The
campaign of Ohio Governor John Kasich has always been dedicated to his record
of civic accomplishments. It has been a primary goal of his campaign to communicate
his experience in government and his ability to get things done, particularly
to achieve a balanced budget. Kasich’s campaign, running to the left of the
Republican field, also has the goal of painting the governor as a unifier,
someone who could draw strong support from independents in the general election.
Because
Kasich does not have the funds that some first tier Republican candidates have,
he has chosen to focus on the first primary election state of New Hampshire. He
has dedicated almost all of his assets to the state, spending a considerable amount
of time there. While he occasionally campaigns in other early voting states
such as Iowa and South Carolina, he has held over 50 town hall meetings in New
Hampshire already. He also focuses his advertisements on the state, spending
money to buy ad time in the Boston media market that covers New Hampshire.
Kasich
has not been shy about the role New Hampshire plays in his campaign strategy.
Instead of downplaying the results there, he has made it clear that if he does
not do well in New Hampshire, his campaign will effectively be over. His campaign
hopes to capture momentum from a strong showing in New Hampshire, at the very
least finishing as one of the top two establishment candidates there. He hopes
to achieve this by appealing to the moderate Republicans and independents in
the state.
Kasich’s
plan to win New Hampshire mirrors that of Senator John McCain’s 2000 and 2008
election strategy. In both primary elections, McCain focused on New Hampshire,
putting most of his resources to use there. In 2008, McCain lacked the large amount
of campaign money that other candidates had amassed, yet he was able to ride momentum
from winning New Hampshire to success in South Carolina, eventually winning the
nomination.
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