Gov. John Kasich’s political gambit paid off. He relocated to New Hampshire months ago for one reason: He had to win big there or go back to his day job in Columbus.

Give the career politician his props for pulling it off in this week’s primary. A second-place finish, behind Donald Trump, separated him from the other establishment contenders wrestling for the Oval Office.

Mr. Kasich now fancies himself the second coming after Mr. Trump. He, unlike the bombastic billionaire, considers himself electable in November. He, unlike the rest of the pack, has the skill set and temperament to grab voters nationwide.

Mr. Kasich is pumped to plow ahead, debate like a champ, and take South Carolina by storm. He’s a conservative chameleon able to relocate and change. Again.

Those of us in Ohio marvel at his transformations before out-of-state audiences. The candidate celebrating with supporters in New Hampshire this week was a born-again touchy-feely guy who liked to be hugged.

In a state dominated by middle-of-the-road voters, Mr. Kasich was masterly at playing the centrist card. New Englanders like politicians who buck partisan expectations, who act on principles, even if that runs counter to party positions.

Mr. Kasich borrowed a page from former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, stressing his independence. He characterized himself as Mr. Positive in a field of Debbie Downers.

He was brimming with sunshine, hope, and God-given compassion. Ohioans pinched themselves. We hardly knew ye, Mr. Kasich.

We’re more familiar with a thin-skinned governor who bristles at being challenged and who browbeats opponents. We remember how aggressively Mr. Kasich lobbied Statehouse Republicans until they sent him a bill curbing the collective bargaining rights of public unions.

It was a top priority for the first-year governor, who quickly signed the measure — affecting 360,000 public employees in Ohio — into law. It took a statewide referendum for voters to rebuke Mr. Kasich and reject his unfair attack on workers. The governor went too far too fast.

We recognize a presidential candidate who consistently has promoted the charter school industry as vital school choice in Ohio — even as the state became notorious in the country for charter fraud and dismal academic results. Mr. Kasich’s hand-picked people at the Ohio Department of Education presided over a still-unresolved scandal that involved scrubbing failing grades from charters to make them appear successful.

Mr. Kasich boasts about his fiscal dexterity in cutting taxes and controlling spending as governor. But Ohioans, forced to pay higher taxes to support local schools and governments because of state aid cuts, know his actions came at their expense.

Governor Kasich thinks he can have it both ways on other issues. Climate change is a problem, but so is government regulation of harmful emissions.

Mr. Kasich expanded Medicaid in Ohio under the Affordable Care Act. But he is opposed to President Obama’s signature legislation.

Insuring 609,000 Ohioans in the Medicaid program was a faith-based decision. There’s no spiritual mandate (or political benefit) for Mr. Kasich to support Obamacare.

Moderate Republicans in New Hampshire would look askance at a supposedly measured candidate stumping for president who would strip government money from Planned Parenthood. So Candidate Kasich waited until after the primary to jump on that right-wing bandwagon.

The governor, who has signed multiple abortion restrictions into law, favors defunding Planned Parenthood programs in the state that the organization says “provided over 47,000 STD tests, more than 3,600 HIV tests, and served nearly 2,800 new or expectant mothers” last year. But signing a bill that targets about $1.3 million in grant money the agency would receive through Ohio’s Department of Health is a politically savvy step going into the South Carolina primary.

The compassionate conservative persona that worked for Mr. Kasich with New England voters will be chucked aside for a crusading right-of-center Christian makeover, to elicit a hallelujah from core evangelicals. Next, Ohio’s governor will pander to that state’s defense industry by promising to put more U.S. boots on the ground in the Middle East to fight Islamic extremists.

But his political gambit might not pay off in South Carolina. The chameleon could be called out as a losing Kasich invention.

Marilou Johanek is a columnist for The Blade.

First Published February 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.