Ohio Politics Now: Kasich vetting VP candidates as Cruz announces Fiorina as running mate http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/04/28/ohio-politics-now-cruz-fiorina-kasich.htmlBy Michelle Everhart
The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday April 28, 2016 8:44 AM
Want to know what’s happening in Ohio government and politics from Columbus to Washington, D.C.? The Columbus Dispatch has you covered.
The Cruz-Fiorina ticket: “Neither presidential primary is truly over yet, but Sen. Ted Cruz threw down the first gauntlet of the 2016 veepstakes Wednesday, naming former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate during a rally in Indianapolis,” Dispatch Washington reporter Jessica Wehrman writes.
In a 4 p.m. announcement that his campaign had teased all day, Cruz called Fiorina ‘ an individual who I trust.’”
A change in the day’s narrative? “Cruz made his announcement one day after billionaire Donald Trump swept primaries in five states, winning them with as much as 64 percent of the vote in Rhode Island,” Wehrman writes. “Cruz came in second in only Pennsylvania, Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s home state. Kasich came in second in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and Delaware.”
What Team Kasich said: "Carly Fiorina ran an honorable campaign but most Republicans will meet this decision with a collective shrug," said Mike Schrimpf, a Kasich campaign spokesman.
Will Kasich name a running mate soon? On Sunday, Kasich said his team had begun the vetting process. “We have some old hands now who are beginning to do that. These things come quickly, and you don't want to have yourself in position where you have got to pick somebody out of a hat."
But... “Cruz has set a precedent, so don't be surprised if Kasich follows suit at some point. But to counter immediately with his choice would only make him seem like a copycat. No one from Team Kasich wanted to offer shortlist names as Cruz prepared to make his announcement," cleveland.com’s Henry Gomez writes.
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Yeah, about the Kasich-Cruz alliance: “The Ohio governor canceled some public events after striking a deal with Mr. Cruz to cede certain states to each other , but Mr. Kasich still met privately Tuesday in Indianapolis with about two dozen convention delegates and other prominent Republicans. He also attended two fundraisers,” Wall Street Journal reporter Beth Reinhard writes.
“It’s definitely confusing,” said Mike Murphy, a convention delegate and former chairman of the Indianapolis GOP who was at the meeting. “A lot of the people who were going to go with Kasich in Indiana now feel really adrift… I think the deal was a mistake. It’s contrived and smacks of desperation.’’
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Kasich loses his hometown: On the campaign trail, Kasich often talks about his roots in McKees Rocks, Pa. But
Kasich lost his hometown to Trump in Tuesday’s primary, Wehrman writes.
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Where the governor is today: Kasich is campaigning in Oregon where his campaign released a new TV ad Wednesday.
“Wednesday morning saw the release of a new TV ad in Oregon, touting that rival ‘Ted Cruz pulled out of Oregon’ and that Kasich ‘is the only one that can stop Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall,’” according to CNN. “The ad doesn't describe the agreement reached by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns that had Kasich pullinghis resources out of Indiana, with Cruz doing the same in Oregon and New Mexico. The plan allows for each candidate to have a "clear path" to compete against Trump in those states.”& amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; lt; /span>
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On the countdown: 194 days until the general election.
