I was working on a big ol’ comment in the last thread, then Chrome crapped out right as I was posting it. Then by the time I was able to get back to the site a new thread opened. So…I’m going to put it here as it fits the GOP clown car entries.

Thing is, this guy is not a clown…here is the post from the last thread:

I saw upthread some discussion about George Pataki running for president on the fact that he is not as crazy as other GOP candidates.

I swear…keep an eye out for Ohio governor John Kasich. He is positioning himself just as I thought he would. He wants to be The Real Moderate, the un-Walker, The Man with the Real Experience and The Down Home Christian with a Heart.

He was campaigning in Georgia yesterday. Check out some of his “moderate Republican speak” and how he can be quick and in-your-face with his answers:

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The first question from his first Georgia audience was the tough one for John Kasich.

Mike Fitzgerald, chairman of the 6th District GOP, confessed that he’d been “grinding on this” during the Ohio governor’s speech here on Tuesday.

Fitzgerald noted that the possible Republican presidential candidate had expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “Is that a sustainable model long-term?” the GOP activist asked.

Kasich first noted that his application of Medicaid expansion to prisoners and the mentally ill actually would save his state money in the long run.

The Ohio governor then fell back on biography.

“I was chairman of the (House) Budget Committee when we balanced the federal budget,” he said. “I took Ohio from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. If the federal government fools around and changes the formula, I’ve told the people in the state we’ll get out of it. I’m not going to let my budget be put into a hole.”

But in the end, Kasich sounded a note that Georgia Republicans have heard only rarely. “My (other) choice in that decision was to ignore some of the most vulnerable people in our population,” the governor said. “I’ve been criticized for this decision. Do you think it bothers me? It doesn’t.”

Later in the day, Kasich met with potential financial backers in Atlanta, and he closed out his post-Memorial Day adventure in Georgia with a rain-soaked barbecue on a farm near Monroe.

Among those waiting for him was Phil Neff of Dalton, who said he has watched Kasich “since he was a congressman in Ohio.”

Neff wasn’t bothered by the Medicaid expansion.

“The money’s out there. Georgia’s going to be on board very quickly,” Neff said — a reference to a Medicaid “experiment” that Gov. Nathan Deal is pursuing.

Interest in Kasich was high throughout the day. In Sandy Springs, he nearly packed the house, with an audience that included longtime GOP strategist Ralph Reed and Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

“(Kasich) will make a great president if we can get him that far,” said Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, who once worked for the late Jack Kemp when Kemp was secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

That was from this Columbus Dispatch article: Dispatch - Critics of Medicaid expansion don’t bother him, Kasich tells Georgia GOP

And in this bit…he goes right after Wisconsin’s Walker:

SANDY SPRINGS, Georgia - Gov. John Kasich says he still believes Ohio doesn’t need a right-to-work law, even though he last week rescinded union rights for roughly 15,000 health-care and child-care workers.

The governor’s increasingly moderate stance on unions had drawn criticism from fellow Republicans - whom he’s courting as he explores a possible bid for president.

Kasich largely backed down from anti-union stances after a statewide referendum in 2011 overturned Senate Bill 5, which limited the collective bargaining rights of Ohio’s public employees. Meanwhile, other possible 2016 presidential candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker have embraced right-to-work measures.

But Kasich last fall downplayed the importance of passing right to work in Ohio, saying CEOs rarely bring it up when they’re considering locating a business in the state. And, he says, he still believes that.

“We don’t have any disruptive labor situations” in Ohio, so a push for right-to-work isn’t necessary, he told an Enquirer reporter on the sidelines of a 2016-related luncheon in Georgia, itself a right-to-work state.

That was from this cincinnati.com article: John Kasich on campaign trail: No need for right-to-work law

I think he is running. He is just letting the money men get a early view of how bad the rest of the field is and how they are not ready for prime time and he will sell himself as the stable guy that won’t say stupid stuff.

He is slick. Keep your eyes on him. He is the dangerous candidate. Add in the GOP convention is in Cleveland and it is perfect for the Ohio guy to get the nomination. He will kill Scott Walker and the lesser lights. I fear him…and he will give Hillary fits.