The two major candidates for Governor of Ohio, a powerhouse battleground state that has sent eight men to the White House, spent an hour debating each other Wednesday night in Dayton.
Amazingly, neither Richard Cordray, the Democratic nominee, or Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee, ever uttered two words:
John Kasich.
For those of us who had covered Kasich’s first campaign in 2010, and his reelection bid four years ago, it was jaw dropping.
John Kasich used to be the dominate political force in the 7th largest state in America.
But now Ohioans seemingly don’t even notice that he’s there.
Not the candidates, not the journalists, not anybody.
During the debate, which featured Cordray and DeWine practically spitting at each other in every answer, Kasich was mentioned only once by one of the panelists. It was a question about Kasich’s negative views on Donald Trump.
Neither Cordray or DeWine brought the governor up in their answer.
For DeWine, it would have been a perfect opportunity, as a fellow Republican and a guy who ran statewide with Kasich twice, to throw the governor some credit for cutting taxes, slashing regulations on small business, and creating jobs.
But he can’t because Ohio Republicans are no longer Kasich Republicans. They belong to Trump.
For Cordray, he could have bashed Kasich (and DeWine) for leading Ohio into the battle against same sex marriage at the Supreme Court (which they lost). He could have also placed the blame of stagnant wages on Kasich’s eight years.
But he can’t because a handful of Kasich voters in the suburbs, Republican women disgusted by Trump, could hold the key to his victory in November.
It’s just so weird.
John Kasich, the mastermind of the balanced federal budgets of the Clinton era, the Ohio governor who saved Medicaid expansion in the state, the candidate who ran for president showing remarkable dignity and character, has gone invisible.
He is a man on an isolated political island, no longer of use to the right or the left, seemingly relegated now to asking things like why the Harry Potter actor has no God in his life.
Leading me to respond, “where the hell is John Kasich?” And, in Ohio, does anybody care?