SPECIAL COVERAGE
IN SUNDAY'S PAPER: How the Caucuses work and a look at the final push
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As Ohio Gov. John Kasich surveyed the crowd that had gathered for him in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Friday, he couldn’t help but wonder what if.
“I wish I had spent more time in Iowa,” he said. “But there’s only one of me to go around.”
That’s been the conundrum for Kasich, who has opted to echo other more moderate campaigns by focusing his efforts on the more independently-minded New Hampshire.
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On one hand, he has been fairly warmly received in Iowa. On the other, it’s a state that voted for evangelical conservatives Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Santorum in 2012. Despite his public embrace of his Christian faith, Kasich’s not the type of guy Christian conservatives run to. He knows this.
So his two town halls in Iowa this week – one in Davenport on Wednesday and one in Cedar Rapids Friday – were rarities, a chance for him to kiss the proverbial ring of the first state to vote. They were among 23 appearances he’s made in Iowa since he began his campaign. Only former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore – who made his first trip to Iowa for a GOP debate on Thursday – has been there less.
Kasich, said Dennis Goldford, a professor of political science at Drake University in Des Moines, has bee largely “invisible.”
That bears out in the polls, where he hovers near the bottom. But Kasich made it clear of his focus on Thursday night, when he answered his first question with talk of winning over Democrats. The party, he said, had to “lead as conservatives,” but also needed to “invite people in from the other party.”
“That’s been my message in New Hampshire,” he said, not mentioning Iowa at all.
But he also made it clear that he was well-aware of what he’d given up by not spending more time in the state.
“We were not able to put all the time in we wanted to here, so I have no idea of how it’s going to go, but I don’t want anyone to think we’re just New Hampshire and that’s it,” he told reporters. “We’re prepared to move all across the country,” he said.
In Cedar Rapids on Thursday, he was clearly enjoying the crowd, asking them to caucus for them and joking that if they didn’t want to, “then I don’t want to talk to you.” He grilled a guy wearing a New York Yankees jersey about why he supported the Yankees, and was playful, teasing, and clearly having fun.
But then he left – off to Philadelphia for a fundraising stop, then off to New Hampshire through the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary.
He won’t be in Iowa on caucus night, though surrogates such as Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and State Auditor Dave Yost will.
It was a standing room only crowd. Afterward, Justin Monroe, 18, of Cedar Rapids, said he would caucus for Kasich. “Everyone else is so extremely way to the right,” he said.
“Every visit has exceeded expectations,” said State Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa of Council Bluffs, Kasich’s Iowa state campaign chair. “Is he going to win the state? No. Have we said he’s going to win the state? No.
“We just want to do well here,” she said. “As well as we can.”
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