Andrews: Ohio GOP, Kasich flexing their muscle

Cindi Andrews is The Enquirer's opinion editor; she will be writing from and about both national conventions in the next two weeks. Reach her at candrews@enquirer.com. Twitter: cindiincincy

John Kasich may not have been able to make much of a dent in Donald Trump's overall delegate count as a rival, but Ohio's governor is showing the presumptive presidential nominee that he still has plenty of political muscle to flex in his home state.

The war of words that broke out between Kasich and Trump allies on the opening day of the GOP convention Monday in Cleveland is a worst-case scenario for Donald Trump.

It's not merely a matter of awkwardness – or an embarrassment, as Trump's campaign manager put it – that the Republican governor of the convention's host state hasn't endorsed Trump.

The real problem for the last Republican presidential candidate standing is that a popular governor and his state party are not bringing their political capital and considerable organizing resources to his aid. We've already seen in this election cycle that money doesn't buy campaigns, so maybe Ohio voters won't be dissuaded by a lack of advertising, or organization, or party endorsement.

Maybe, maybe not. Kasich took nearly 47 percent of the vote in Ohio's GOP primary, compared with almost 36 percent for Trump. Matt Borges, the state Republican chair and a strong Kasich ally, sent a pretty clear message Monday that Ohio remains Kasich territory with this tweet to Trump's campaign manager: "Manafort still has a lot to learn about Ohio politics."

Kasich has little to lose from a tiff with his party's nominee. He had only a couple of good showings outside Ohio, and may be using this opportunity to make a bigger impression on voters nationwide in case of a second presidential run. Trump has everything to lose in November in this Midwest swing state if he can't figure it out.

But what’s the end game for Ohio GOP leaders? Neither Kasich nor anyone else can prevent Trump from becoming the nominee at this point. Convention rules have been set and, rightly, they do not include provisions to allow the overthrow of primary voters’ wishes.

It's possible that the state party will opt not to help Trump in the general election. That would cause trouble with the national party but also be a principled stand against a candidate who has made racist and misogynistic comments. Ohio Republicans could sit this one out and give Kasich a running start against a President Hillary Clinton in four years.  

That's possible, but not likely. Plenty of local Republican leaders across Ohio – including Kasich backers – are starting to say it's time to get behind the voters' choice. Hamilton County GOP Chair Alex Triantafilou said the lack of support for – or even mention – of Trump at the Ohio delegation's opening breakfast Monday was unfortunate.

“Eventually we’re going to have to start talking about the nominee,” Triantafilou said. “I’ve been talking about him in Hamilton County. I guess this is where we are as a party in Ohio. But it’s not where we ought to be.”

The likeliest scenario is that the state party will eventually offer support to Trump on the grounds that at least he’s not Clinton. At a minimum, Republicans don’t want her making Supreme Court appointments.

The longer it takes the state party to get there, the more bad feelings are likely to fester between Trump and Ohio Republicans. That spells trouble for Trump given that (let’s all say it together) no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio.