Feisty Kasich didn’t grab any headlines

WASHINGTON — John Kasich’s aggressive debate performance on Wednesday did not catapult him into the top tier of the Republican presidential race or gain him much traction in the national media.

But Ohio’s governor fared

better than his chief rival for establishment GOP support, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, which should help Kasich remain in the contest until voters cast ballots rather than simply talk to pollsters.

Although many agreed that Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had the breakout performances in the debate in Colorado, Kasich entered the debate like a man on a mission.

Flagging in the polls and hanging on the lower rungs of the Republican field, Kasich entered throwing haymakers at the leading outsiders, hoping to make an impression after a low-profile performance in the last debate.

“Gov. Kasich’s poll numbers need to improve,” said Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Whether or not his performance in the debate will accomplish that is to be seen.”

The results were mixed. Kasich received nearly 10 minutes of air time, according to a tally by NPR — far more than businessman Donald Trump, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Christie and Cruz. But he also got bashed by Trump, who said Kasich got “nasty” after his poll numbers dropped.

Trump charged that Kasich served as a “managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes.” That wasn’t true — Kasich was managing director in a twoperson Columbus office — but as Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic consultant in Boston said, Kasich “looked shocked and took the beating.”

“As the first person to speak at the debate, he came out swinging and then poof, he was pretty much gone,” said Marsh. “He didn’t do enough in that debate. Who is talking about him today? Nobody. He didn’t do enough in that debate to change the dynamic for him and his position in this race, and certainly not in New Hampshire.”

But Kasich’s backers expressed confidence in his performance. Connie Wehrkamp, a spokesman for New Day for America — a super-PAC backing Kasich — said he “did exactly what he needed to do.”

“Many candidates on that stage really struggled, but Gov. Kasich was strong and he looked presidential,” she said. “He doesn’t put up with the pandering, and he calls it how he sees it, just like the voters. We feel really good about where things stand.”

Unlike Rubio and Cruz, Kasich’s performance didn’t draw a lot of praise. But next to Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bush, it appeared Kasich more than held his own.

That may be Kasich’s key problem in 2016: He was one of 10 people on the stage, and the bigger the crowd, the harder it is to stand out. Forced to fight to make an impression, Kasich at times ended up yelling in order to make a point — partly because CNBC moderators struggled to maintain control of an unwieldy cast of candidates.

“If Kasich is going to have a breakout moment, it’s not going to be on a stage with 10 people,” said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report.

Kasich, not as naturally skilled a debater as Rubio, may not have done as well as Rubio, but Duffy said: “He did better than Paul, I think he did better than (former Arkansas Gov. Mike) Huckabee, I think he did better than Bush. I don’t think he did anything wrong.”

Kasich’s performance against Bush could extend his run. Kasich entered the race this year poised to take on Bush, then thought to be a frontrunner.

But instead, a trio of outsiders — Trump, Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — have performed ably in the polls. The original Kasich playbook — to beat Bush — will have to be reworked.

Bush’s poor performance on Thursday, said Duffy, will take the heat off Kasich. It is, she said, “what keeps (Kasich) alive.”

“There’s no Kasich death watch right now, but there is certainly a Bush one,” she said, adding that Bush’s poor performance “gives Kasich some breathing room.”

Kasich, she said, “didn’t have a breakout moment, but I don’t think he made any mistakes.”

The next debate is roughly two weeks away. But voters won’t begin casting ballots until next year, meaning Kasich has plenty of time to make a move.

Terry Holt, a Republican consultant in Washington, D.C., and former adviser to Kasich, and departing House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, compares the debates to “a long set of previews before the main event.”

“For most of the candidates, and Gov. Kasich in particular, showing up, demonstrating your strengths and not making any mistakes are a sufficient outcome for these debates,” he said.

He said that by the time people begin voting in February in New Hampshire, where Kasich is all in, the debates will be in the “distant past.”

“All voters are gettable,” Holt said. “And they are not going to be seized in some debate. They will be gotten door-to-door and phone call-to-phone call.”

Holt said while Kasich may not be “the first choice today,” he “has the credibility, the tone and the edginess to inherit almost anyone else’s voters in the field except in the far right.”

“Kasich is in a strong position to inherit a lot of other people’s voters,” Holt said.