Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s political immersion in New Hampshire for the last six months paid off Tuesday with an impressive second-place finish in the nation’s first primary election.
Now Mr. Kasich hopes he’s gained enough momentum to capitalize on that finish to stay afloat as the Republican Party’s anti-Donald Trump candidate in the all-important primary and caucus elections of the next six weeks.
Cheering supporters waited for him at a hotel conference center in Concord, N.H.
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It was a strong finish for the 63-year-old, second-term governor.
A good debate performance on Saturday night, and a weak performance by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio positioned Mr. Kasich to be the so-called “establishment” candidate against real estate mogul Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
The Kasich campaign was energized from before dawn’s early light when Mr. Kasich beat Mr. Trump in the midnight voting in Dixville Notch, 3-2.
And during the day, Google Trends data showed him as the top-searched candidate associated with the search “Vote for...”.
Mr. Kasich staked the viability of his campaign on the outcome in New Hampshire. He picked up less than 2 percent of the votes in the Republican Iowa caucuses last week.
The Kasich campaign said he was “outspent by millions” and was targeted by more than $7 million in negative ads.
“Governor Kasich is now the leading governor in the race and the only one with a realistic chance at the nomination,” said senior strategist John Weaver. “He showed that a conservative with a positive message will succeed and, in fact, that’s the only way for Republicans to win the White House. As the governor of Ohio he knows how to do it.”
To cheering supporters at a hotel in Concord, N.H., after the election results were known, Mr. Kasich said, “Tonight, the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigning.”
Mr. Kasich repeatedly thanked his supporters, saying, “How can any man be so lucky to have all of you?”
About Democratic runner-up Hillary Clinton, he said, she “might as well as head to South Carolina ’cuz it’s not working here.”
The campaign spelled out the strategy ahead: battle for delegates in South Carolina on Feb. 20, continue to accumulate delegates until Michigan, which he is counting on as a neighboring state, and then on to Ohio on March 15.
Eventually, under the Kasich plan, he would claim the nomination in Cleveland in July at the Republican National Convention. Republicans are keenly aware that no Republican has ever been elected president without carrying Ohio.
However, 18 states and Puerto Rico have their primaries and caucuses between South Carolina and Michigan.
The voting in New Hampshire was so intense that some polling places were kept open to accommodate late arrivals from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Toledoan Vincent Smith, 56, a Republican political activist and veteran advocate, was there for Mr. Kasich’s second-place finish, after traveling in a four-van caravan out of Columbus on Friday to help knock on doors and make phone calls for the governor.
“His campaign is totally a strategy campaign,” Mr. Smith said. “He had a plan when he came in. It didn’t look like he was going to make the initial debate and he did. His strategy is to stick to the issues — what we can do to make America better.”
But second place in New Hampshire is nothing to be ashamed of. Second-place finishers Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000 went on to win the Republican nomination.
Mr. Kasich blanketed New Hampshire more than any other candidate, proving that intensive retail politics pays off. He held more than 100 town hall meetings and was sometimes the only political candidate working in the state.
While Mr. Kasich is hardly seen as liberal in Ohio, he has stood out as one of the most liberal or moderate of the field running for the Republican nomination for President because of his stance in Ohio of expanding Medicaid as permitted under Obamacare, and because he went out of his way to express concern for people “in the shadows.”
The super PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attacked Mr. Kasich as an “Obama Republican.”
Mr. Kasich will hold town hall meetings March 15 and 16 in Allendale, Utica, and Livonia, Mich., and has campaign rallies set for this week in South Carolina.
The Kasich super PAC, New Day for America, announced endorsements by 300 GOP leaders and activists in South Carolina. The super PAC has said previously that it was targeting African-American precincts around Charleston to capitalize on Mr. Kasich’s growing reputation as the “caring” candidate.
New Day For America claimed its South Carolina grassroots operation is the strongest of any super PAC, with eight full-time staff and representation in every congressional district since September.
Financing has to be at the top of the campaign’s concerns. A report from the Center for Responsive Politics said Mr. Kasich and New Day for America together had the lowest campaign war chest of any of the major contenders for the GOP nomination.
Mark Weaver, a Republican consultant in Columbus who is not involved in the Kasich campaign, said Mr. Kasich still has a lot of political hurdles to climb.
“Kasich’s strategy remains on track. Winning New Hampshire makes him a viable alternative to Donald Trump. If he can organize South Carolina and the other southern primary states as well as he did in New Hampshire, he will remain a serious contender and could garner more establishment support,” Mr. Weaver said.
With his second-place finish, Mr. Kasich will likely be subjected to more scrutiny than he has experienced so far.
Ohio Democratic Chairman David Pepper said Mr. Kasich presides over an economic recovery that trails other states, a scandal involving charter schools, and an effort to defund Planned Parenthood — “not an approach that would move our country forward.”
Contact Tom Troy: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058 or on Twitter @TomFTroy.
First Published February 10, 2016, 5:15 a.m.
