Allies of Bush, Kasich spar over military spending

Jeb Bush says New Hampshire voters “pushed the pause button” on anointing any candidate as the favorite to win the Republican nomination.

But allies for Republican presidential rival Jeb Bush see a potential vulnerability for Kasich in military-minded SC.

On the evening before voting took place, Ohio Governor John Kasich was holding an outdoor rally in a snow storm – a New Hampshire ritual that ensured decent media coverage.

MI on March 8 is seen as a vital must-win state, that will see the same sort of intense focus that Kasich applied to New Hampshire. Gingrich won South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary in 2012 and served with Kasich in Congress. Marco Rubio four times as much.

“President Bush is looking forward to returning to the Palmetto State to support Governor Bush and explain to South Carolinians why he believes that Jeb is the candidate best prepared to handle the rigors of the presidency and make our country safer, strong, and freer”, his spokesman, Freddy Ford, said.

“Somebody wants to mess with me, they’re messing with the wrong guy”, Kasich said.

A CNN/ORC poll last June found that 52 percent of adults had a favorable impression of him, compared to about a third of Americans when he left office.

Still, given the steep climb in SC and the next few states, Kasich must act quickly to convert his New Hampshire win into a cash wave. Cruz and Trump going head to head and then Kasich, Bush, Rubio and Christie battling it out.

Kasich acknowledged Wednesday to reporters that his campaign has a “long haul” ahead as he approaches less-friendly primary contests, but he remained optimistic.

Even in a race marked by a strong anti-establishment sentiment, Kasich has always emphasized his mainstream, moderate, bipartisan style, which may be why The New York Times endorsed him as “the only plausible choice for Republicans exhausted of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race”. What do you think I’d be doing down here?

“I’m not going to try to predict what happens to him”, said the Kasich strategist.

His super PAC also stands ready to fight.

“We will respond aggressively to his flailing campaign”, he said. Kasich said at a pizza parlor in Mount Pleasant.