Tuesday, February 16, 1999
'Little guy' starts White House run
Long-shot Kasich seeks GOP nod
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — It is not often that a Republican presidential contender takes Jimmy Carter as an inspiration, but U.S. Rep. John Kasich launched his presidential bid Monday with the Carter model in mind.
The nine-term congressman from suburban Westerville launched his long-shot bid for the 2000 GOP presidential nomination Monday morning in a Columbus ballroom filled with about 1,200 cheering supporters, most of them central Ohio Republicans who have known him for 20 years.
“It's power from the people and power to the people,” the 46-year-old House Budget committee chairman told the crowd, summing up his campaign theme — decisions are better made by “ordinary people” rather than the “elites in Washington.”
The "fresher' candidate
Mr. Kasich bills himself as the candidate who is “a little different” and “a little fresher” than the rest of the ever-growing pack of GOP presidential contenders, even though the polls show that he is little-known outside his central Ohio congressional district.
But, like Mr. Carter did in the 1976 Democratic presiden tial primaries, Mr. Kasich hopes to break out of the pack, gambling that in 2000, GOP primary voters will be looking for a new face in a field full of better-known names like Quayle, Bush and Dole.
Born the son of a mailman in suburban Pittsburgh, Mr. Kasich settled in the Columbus area after attending Ohio State University and becoming in 1978, at age 26, the youngest person ever elected to the Ohio Senate.
No Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio. The Ohio congressman clearly has support from many of his colleagues in the Ohio congressional delegations.
U.S. Reps. John Boehner,
R-West Chester, Bob Ney, R-St. Clairsville, and Michael Ox ley, R-Findlay, were in the crowd, while Ohio House Speaker Joann Davidson, whose Reynoldsburg home is in Mr. Kasich's district, will chair the Ohio campaign.
Man of "drive, vision'
Ohio's senior U.S. senator, Mike DeWine, introduced Mr. Kasich to the crowd.
“Without John Kasich's drive and determination and vision, this country would not have a balanced budget today,” Mr. DeWine said of the House Budget Committee chairman.
Mr. Kasich emphasized his plan to use part of the federal budget surpluses to fund a 10 percent across-the-board tax cut, calling it the “linchpin” of his campaign.
“Tax cuts aren't just economic theory,” Mr. Kasich said. “They are about empowering people to do things for themselves in their own communities.”
Mr. Kasich's campaign, at least at first, is expected to be a relatively low-budget affair. It's aiming for an $18.5 million budget and is trying some inno vative ways of raising it — including soliciting contributions on the campaign Internet site, www.k2k.org.
But, more than anything, Mr. Kasich is emphasizing his “little guy” status. “When they say that a mailman's kid can't grow up to be president, they're wrong,” he said.
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