Kasich's campaign needs some momentum -- and more time

Ohio Gov. John Kasich answers an audience question during a town hall style meeting last week at the Fisk Middle School in Salem, N.H.

(Charles Krupa, The Associated Press)

John Kasich gives a confusing answer on gun control. The Ohio Republican Party snubs a trio of incumbents. And Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty loses a key endorsement in his re-election bid. Read on in Ohio Politics Roundup.

John Kasich won't be pinned down on guns. The Ohio governor danced around questions Sunday about firearms and the terrorist watch list in the aftermath of last week's deadly shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. The Republican presidential hopeful suggested to CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" that refusing to sell a gun to someone on the watch list could tip off terrorists and prevent useful surveillance.

"Of course, it makes common sense to say that, if you're on a terrorist watch list, you shouldn't be able to go out and get a gun, although you will be able to get it illegally," the governor said as part of a heavily nuanced response to Tapper's question. "But what we have to deal with is the fact that we don't want to tip somebody off that they're under - they're under review and that we could be gathering critical information to disrupt a plot."

Tapper pressed ahead, spelling out a scenario where someone on the watch list tries to buy an AR-15. Does Kasich think that person should get the gun?

"Look, everybody wants to get a slick little answer and 100 percent answer," Kasich replied. "As governor of Ohio, I have to sit down with people who are very knowledgeable in a whole variety of ways. And then we look at it. And we try to figure out, what is the commonsense solution? So, if there is a practical way to limit it, yes. But I think we also have to weigh it off against our ability to surveil."

How Kasich responded ... to President Barack Obama's Oval Office address: "The president's strategy is not enough. Without taking the fight to ISIS on the ground, ISIS won't be defeated. Since February I've been calling for a coalition to do that. We must stop delaying and do it. We delayed in helping the Syrian rebels and look where it got us, and when we decided to act it was too little. Bolder action across the board is needed because our way of life is what's at stake. Also, when terrorists threaten us, our response can't be to target our own constitutional rights. Our rights aren't the problem, our unwillingness to act to defeat extremists is the problem. We need to decisively and aggressively protect our nation and our ideals. We can't delay."

New Hampshire, same old strategy: Kasich "stuck to the formula again over the past three days," the Columbus Dispatch's Darrel Rowland writes. "Four more town-hall meetings ... . A few private meet-and-greets. A short talk at a GOP Christmas party. Signing up supporters and planting seeds with those who aren't quite there yet.

"Presuming you have a good message and background, that's the usual route to political success in New Hampshire. But this year has proved anything but usual in the state that will hold America's first 2016 presidential primary in two months and three days."

More from Kasich: The governor tells Rowland his campaign "is financially set through the Feb. 9 primary in New Hampshire, the nation's first. He repeated what he has so often said, that he doesn't have to finish first, but merely do well and beat expectations in the Granite State. Then the recognition - and additional money - will flow his way.

Why a strong finish there is important: Kasich is building out a national infrastructure aimed at capitalizing on a strong New Hampshire showing. If he exits the first primary state with any momentum, he is poised to collect delegates in other early states that award them proportionally, then clean up in Ohio's winner-take-all primary on March 15.

Kasich already is on the ballot in 19 states, plus the District of Columbia.

At the Statehouse ...

Outside looking in: State Rep. Paul Zeltwanger of Mason "was one of only three incumbent lawmakers not endorsed by the state party Friday, a move that calls into question Zeltwanger's desire to be a team player for the Republican Party," the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jessie Balmert reports.

"Zeltwanger linked the non-endorsement to his votes against GOP-sponsored bills he doesn't agree with and his decision not to share campaign funds with the party. But Zeltwanger, along with Rep. Nino Vitale, R-Urbana, told party leaders he didn't want to participate in campaign committee functions under the Ohio House Republican Organizational Caucus (OHROC), said Ohio GOP spokeswoman Brittany Warner. That can include contributing money."

Vitale and Rep. Wes Retherford of Hamilton also were denied. Retherford earlier lost the Butler County GOP endorsement and is weighing whether to stay in the race.

Fearless prediction: "Bystanders can unbunch their Dockers," Thomas Suddes writes for cleveland.com. "Right to Work isn't going anywhere in Ohio anytime soon, if ever, because the last thing key Republicans want is another Senate Bill 5" - the collective bargaining overhaul the GOP pushed four years ago to their political peril.

On the local scene ...

NASA funding at stake for Cleveland's Glenn Center: "Congress, pushing to end the year by resolving political and policy differences, might cut tens of millions of dollars from the 2016 budget of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland," reports Stephen Koff of cleveland.com. "Cleveland-area business leaders say the cut would be devastating to the Cleveland center, which designs, develops and tests technology for aeronautics and spaceflight. The money taken from Glenn would help pay for a different priority of some Senate members: a Maryland-based robotic mission to refuel and service long-orbiting satellites that otherwise might have to be shut off."

McGinty loses the ward leaders: "Cuyahoga County Democratic Party ward leaders on Saturday recommended the party endorse Michael O'Malley for county prosecutor, rather than incumbent Timothy J. McGinty, in March's primary election," cleveland.com's Evan MacDonald reports. "The leaders will make a non-binding recommendation to the party's executive committee, which votes on endorsements on Dec. 17. ...

"O'Malley, a former assistant county prosecutor who is currently Parma's safety director, said Saturday that he plans to challenge McGinty, who has come under fire during the past year over his handling of high-profile cases such as the Tamir Rice shooting and the prosecution of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo. ...

"McGinty called O'Malley a key cog in [former Prosecutor Bill] Mason's political machine. Several employees in Mason's office were active in the Democratic Party. Four years ago, McGinty and other candidates blamed Mason for allowing politics in the office. McGinty prohibited his assistants from running for office and keeping their day jobs."

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