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Ohio Gov. John Kasich talks about the presidential campaign, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and other topics during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 16, following a meeting with the president in the Oval Office.

(Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press)

John Kasich won't be on next month's ballot, but might want to be on 2020's. So, arguably, Ohio's Republican governor is continuing to run for president.

Kasich, whose term as governor will end in January 2019, is positioning himself as the adult in the room. Nationally, he's been making all the right moves as to Republican movers and shakers: big manufacturers and U.S.-based traders. Oh, and on Sept. 16 Kasich told NBC's Chuck Todd, "It's very, very likely I will not" vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "The chances are minuscule," Kasich said.

In mid-September, Kasich went to the White House (as a visitor) to join Democratic President Barack Obama in asking Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The partnership is a huge trade deal among the United States and 11 other nations (not including China).

And on Sept. 15, The Wall Street Journal published a Kasich op-ed, "A vote against trade is a vote against growth."

In contrast, Trump opposes the TPP. So does Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. One of her campaign's websites proclaims, "Hillary Clinton opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, period."

But the word "now" seems to be missing from the Clinton campaign's statement: For, as Trump charged during Monday's debate, Clinton did say in 2012 -- albeit, before the TPP had been finalized -- that the TPP "sets the gold standard in trade agreements." (And Clinton fans wonder why Hillary and Bill Clinton's slicing and dicing of the English language ticks people off.)

Also last week, Kasich joined former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (who served in Obama's Cabinet as well as George W. Bush's) in a Columbus foreign policy forum presented by an outfit called the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Among the coalition's chairman's caucus members ("most dedicated supporters") are Cincinnati's Procter & Gamble (one of Ohio's Fortune 500 companies), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft and Walmart.

The coalition said that in 2015, "Ohio exported $50.7 billion in goods and services overseas, and trade supported more than one in five local jobs." The coalition, in case you're wondering, supports "strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy and defense" -- that is, trade.

On energy policy, Kasich has demonstrated Statehouse responsibility. For example, he said he would veto any bill that kills the benchmarks for solar and wind power that Ohio electricity producers must meet.

The benchmarks are now frozen, but the freeze expires Dec. 31.

State Sen. William Seitz, a suburban Cincinnati Republican, is expected to massage a pending bill so it would replace the existing law's energy mandates and standards, which would otherwise kick in again Jan. 1. The General Assembly first approved the standards in 2008, virtually unanimously.

For now, it's unclear whether there's enough support in the Ohio Senate and House for weakening the energy standards. But the Senate, controlled by Republicans continuously since January 1985, isn't exactly considered forward-thinking.

On energy standards, Kasich is forward-thinking, as he was in expanding Medicaid, despite grandstanding yelps from the usual Capitol Square mossbacks.

In January 2021, on Inauguration Day for whoever's elected president in 2020, Kasich will be 68; Clinton 73; Trump 74. So there's nothing fantastical about what Kasich's doing.

Whether Clinton wins next month (at this writing, she's leading Trump in the RealClear Politics poll average), or Trump wins, voters will likely be in the market for change in 2020. That's why Kasich will keep on keeping on, making sure the GOP's power brokers see his resume, know his face -- and remember his name.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-999-4689

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