John Kasich wins Ohio, spoils North Carolina for Cruz and vows to stay in race
The GOP presidential stayed murky after Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his home state and vowed to stay in the race despite not having a mathematical means to earn enough delegates to be the 2016 nominee. In fact, the role of spoiler played out in North Carolina, where Donald Trump edged out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz 40.2% to Cruz’s 36.8% as Kasich earned 12.7%.
Kasich’s campaign foreshadowed its plans for a convention brawl late Tuesday, naming Stu Spencer and Charlie Black to the national strategy team. Both are veterans of the last contested convention, the 1976 fight between President Gerald Ford and an insurgent Ronald Reagan.
Tom Rath, a Kasich adviser from New Hampshire and veteran of the Republican convention process, said Trump and Cruz’s advisers may be overlooking the role of politics at the convention. If a contested convention arrives, and Kasich may appear to have a better chance against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, convention delegates may make judgments based on political calculus.
“It’s a political convention and sooner or later, the realities of the moment politically, which we cannot foresee now, will overwhelm all the process in the world,” Rath said. “You cannot make a judgment about what could happen until you know the political context within which that action is happening.”
Still fourth, Kasich only has 138 delegates, less than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who dropped out after losing Florida.
Saul Anuzis, a former Michigan Republican national committeeman who’s advising Cruz on his convention strategy, spoke to Politico about Kasich. “There is virtually zero chance he can even be nominated…It’s a two-man race.”
Kasich has been vocalizing support for the contested convention, spinning the education and excitement of the event and not the backlash from the public for going against one of the top performers. Many insiders believe Kasich is just navigating enough leverage to press for a Vice President nomination with Trump.