In case you missed these articles, here is the latest roundup of headlines and news following Ohio Gov. John Kasich's strong showing in Michigan last night.
- Kasich elbows past Rubio with last-minute Michigan surge (Washington Post).
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John Kasich Celebrates Strong Showing in Michigan (New York Times).
- Were it not for Rubio, he probably could have won Michigan Tuesdaynight (CBS News).
- Why Kasich is the unlikely linchpin in GOP's plan to stop Trump (Boston Globe).
- Michigan primary gives John Kasich a bit of confidence as presidential race shifts to Ohio (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
- Kasich builds momentum before Ohio (Detroit News).
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Ohio's Kasich optimistic about chance to win home state (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).
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He took the stage at his election night party before half the Michigan votes were in. He declared a second place finish while that was very much in doubt. And then, almost as an afterthought, Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) shoved Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) out of the presidential race.
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On the trail, Kasich had started talking more confidently about competing in the later megastate primaries.
"Pennsylvania? I can't wait to go to Pennsylvania!" Kasich said at a short election day press conference. "But I can't wait to go to the Rocky Mountains. And all these predictions of doom and gloom and all that other stuff? It's a new day."
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Kasich's optimism about Ohio, Pennsylvania — and Illinois, where he would campaign Wednesday morning — was buoyed by the pattern of the Michigan vote.
Read the full article here.
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Mr. Kasich had focused significant attention on Michigan, and his strong showing strengthened his ability to present himself as an alternative to Donald J. Trump. Mr. Kasich, who has eschewed attacks on his rivals, said that "people are beginning to reward a positive campaign."
He is now turning to a bigger test: next week's primary in his home state, Ohio.
"I landed in Cleveland today," he said, "and I got down on my hands and knees and almost kissed the ground to be back in the state of Ohio."
And he predicted that — unlike Tuesday night — he would take first place, not second, here next week.
"Just wait one week from tonight," Mr. Kasich said. "We are going to win the state of Ohio, and it will be a whole new ballgame."
Read the full article here.
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[W]hile they were all tearing each other to bits in their attack ads and debate performances, Kasich, it appears, was quietly gaining strength. A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll out this week found him overtaking Rubio nationally. Were it not for Rubio, he probably could have won Michigan Tuesday night.
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His plan is all about winning Ohio, which he has very good chance of doing next week, and then pulling off an upset at the convention. How? By offering himself as a consensus candidate for a deeply fractured party.
Read the full article here.
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Despite all that, the Republican establishment sees Kasich as the unlikely linchpin of its strategy to derail Trump.
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The real test for Kasich comes on March 15. Ohio and Florida are the key prizes among the six contests that day. It will be Kasich's moment: The brunt of the argument for his candidacy so far is that he can deliver his home state.
"Our campaign strategy was built knowing that the nominating calendar is front-loaded to benefit the other candidates in the race, while it shifts more and more toward a Kasich candidacy the deeper we go into it," wrote chief Kasich strategist John Weaver in a memo over the weekend.
Read the full article here.
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Thanks to crafty expectations-setting, a cheery Midwest message, and a ground game built from the same playbook as his breakout performance last month in New Hampshire, Kasich survived while Rubio collapsed.
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A Kasich win in Ohio would complicate Trump's path to the nomination and raise the likelihood of a contested Republican National Convention this summer in Cleveland.
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Kasich has high job-approval ratings. But he can't simply coast on favorite-son status. He has at least a half-dozen public events scheduled in the state throughMonday. Earlier Tuesday, his campaign launched its Ohio advertising with a spot that recaps Kasich's work as governor.
"Ohio," Kasich says straight to the camera, "let's do it again."
Read the full article here.
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Ohio Gov. John Kasich finally did well enough to boost his claim of being a potential Trump stopper.
The race now goes Ohio, which votes Tuesday, along with another large Midwestern state, Illinois. Any momentum Kasich picked up in Michigan must be coupled with a victory in Ohio and perhaps Illinois to keep his campaign alive.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's performance casts doubt on his ability to appeal to voters outside the South. As Trump said in his lengthy prime-time victory speech, Cruz keeps claiming to be the only candidate who can beat Trump, but he rarely does.
Trump picked up Mississippi on Tuesday night as well, a state with a large evangelical electorate that might have belonged to Cruz.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who looked to be well out of the race in Michigan, returns home as well. Florida votes Tuesday, and Rubio, like Kasich, has to win his home state. But while Kasich is running neck-and-neck with Trump in Ohio, the billionaire is well ahead of Rubio in Florida, according to polls. Only a win will save his campaign.
From here on out, there's no more pretending that silver, bronze or an honorable mention ribbon are the new gold.
Read the full article here.
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Kasich credited voters with rewarding the tone of his campaign and messaging as the key in his new momentum, "I am going to continue to run a positive campaign in the stretch and not get down in the gutter," he said.
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Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were battling for second place as the evening progressed, with Cruz ahead in Mississippi and Kasich holding the lead in Michigan as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in a distant fourth place there.
"I think that this bolsters Kasich's momentum going into his home state this week, and I am looking forward to him doing quite well," said former U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire, who was attending the Kasich event in Columbus. Humphrey, 75, has spent the past three weeks traveling across the Buckeye State campaigning for the Ohio governor.
Read the full article here.
Related Images
John Kasich, Kasich Campaign Press Release - After Michigan Surge, Kasich is Ready for Ohio Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/313501