John Kasich's awkward GOP convention plan
COLUMBUS - For months, John Kasich had promised drama at the GOP convention in Cleveland.
Despite Donald Trump's lead in the primaries, Kasich insisted Trump would fail to win a majority of delegate votes. Then he, John Kasich, governor of Ohio and presidential candidate, would prevail in a contested convention in his home state, arguably the country's most important electoral bellwether.
It didn't happen.
Trump clinched his victory in the Republican primaries. Kasich opposed him until the last moment, becoming increasingly bold in his rebukes of Trump, and has since declined to endorse him. The result: The GOP convention is coming to Cleveland, and the Ohio governor is unlikely to show up at the arena.
“It is odd, isn’t it?” Kasich told The Washington Post. “It’s going to be strange.”
With an appearance or speech at the convention hall "very unlikely," according to spokesman Chris Schrimpf, Kasich is occupying himself otherwise.
Ohio Republicans are holding a reception in Kasich’s honor Tuesday afternoon at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His speaking engagements in Cleveland include a reception with the delegation from New Hampshire, where he finished second to Trump in the GOP primary, and an interview with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed his presidential effort late in the GOP primary.
Kasich did speak at the 2012 Republican convention in Tampa, Florida. This week, he is speaking at another convention: the NAACP gathering in Cincinnati Sunday evening, hours before presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will address the group of largely Democratic African-Americans. Trump declined an invitation to speak at that convention.
And he remains the governor of Ohio, overseeing state troopers and the National Guard, and therefore responsible for much of the state-level response to whatever plays out in the streets of Cleveland. The Secret Service has coordinated security operations with Cleveland Police and law enforcement groups from around the country. Still, activists and officials alike continue to warn of the possibility of clashes between competing protester groups and between demonstrators and police, especially in the wake of the ambush attack on Dallas police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest earlier this month.
Even as the chasm between him and Trump has relegated Kasich to a backseat role at the GOP convention, the Ohio governor continues to spread his ideas. A small political operation remains intact, with Kasich planning to travel to campaign for favored Republican candidates for Congress.
Kasich has not ruled out endorsing Trump. (As of now, he has reneged on a pledge he signed to endorse the nominee, as have some others who vied for the GOP nomination.) To win his endorsement, Kasich has said Trump would need to make changes akin to the apostle Paul’s conversion, as relayed in the Bible, from a persecutor of the Christian church to one of its chief missionaries and the author of much of the New Testament.
But for now, his team continues to take to social media to rebuke and lament Trump's controversial behavior and comments. Two and a half weeks ago, John Weaver, who remains linked to Kasich as a political strategist, emailed Kasich's campaign supporters with poll data showing Kasich outperforming Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton in seven swing states.
"This data is just further proof that Governor Kasich is the most popular Republican politician in the nation today," Weaver wrote.
The message underneath it all?
If Trump loses to Clinton, as Team Kasich warned he would, Kasich will still be here, keeping his options open, just in case, for 2020.