Ohio Gov. John Kasich and CNN analyst Gloria Borger

Ohio Gov. John Kasich chats with CNN political analyst Gloria Borger before a speech last week to Republicans in Columbia, S.C. In a later interview with Borger, Kasich took aim at potential 2016 rival Rand Paul, the GOP senator from Kentucky.

(Henry J. Gomez, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

John Kasich is mixing it up with Rand Paul, a potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination. Read on in today's Ohio Politics Roundup.

John Kasich decries 'extremism' in GOP: "Probably a Republican can't be elected president without winning Ohio, and if they're going to come to Ohio, extremism isn't going to work," he tells Gloria Borger for CNN's "State of the Union."

The Ohio governor, open to a presidential bid but by no means making the moves that suggest a decision is imminent, is sticking to his undetermined timetable. He sat down with Borger last week when his balanced-budget tour visited Columbia, S.C.

"Well I can let the pundits write me off, and say, you know, 'It won't happen.' That's OK. I'm cool with that," Kasich says, adding that he will "try to make the best decision that I can, and I will do it when I'm ready, not when somebody else is ready, or whatever the experts say. I mean it just doesn't work that way."

Kasich also gets in a few digs at Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has criticized GOP governors who accepted Medicaid expansion money.

"You mean Sen. Ron Paul?" says Kasich, perhaps intentionally confusing the senator with his father, Ron, a former Texas congressman and past presidential candidate.

"Ron and Rand, and I served with Ron. ... I'm not sure I would say much to him. I mean I don't know what he, you know maybe he doesn't work in Kentucky, maybe everybody's fine, maybe there aren't people who are suffering these problems."

You can watch Kasich comment on Paul here.

More on Kasich's 'crusade': "He said he won 86 of Ohio's 88 counties, including the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga," Bloomberg's David Weigel writes from Columbia. "This was true; he did it against a Democrat whose campaign had effectively ended three months before the election, done in by scandal and non-existent fundraising."

Evaluating Rob Portman's record: Ohio's junior U.S. senator is up for re-election next year, and while the Republican touts himself as a hard-working dealmaker, Democrats believe he is inflating his resume. Stephen Koff of the Northeast Ohio Media Group takes a deeper look at what Portman has done in Washington since 2011.

What happens if Portman goes national? While looking at the brewing showdown between Portman and former Gov. Ted Strickland or Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, NEOMG's Thomas Suddes stumbles on a potential permutation.

If Portman were to be on the Republicans' national ticket as the vice presidential nominee, "Ohio law would allow Portman to run on Ohio's 2016 ballot both as a candidate for re-election to the Senate and for vice president," Suddes writes.

"If Portman won both offices, and passed up the Senate, Kasich can appoint a replacement senator. Hypothetical prospect: U.S. Rep. Patrick Tiberi, a suburban Columbus Republican who succeeded Kasich in Congress."

Setting up the State of the State: On the eve of the governor's annual report card, the Columbus Dispatch has its annual analysis of how things are going in Ohio.

"As the state continues to climb out of the hole that snatched away both jobs and incomes during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, it's a good-news, bad-news scenario," Randy Ludlow writes for the newspaper.

"The state's 4.8 percent unemployment rate in December was the lowest in 13 years and below the national rate of 5.6 percent," he adds. "On the flip side, the state still needs nearly 61,000 more jobs to return to pre-recession levels."

A look at Kasich's budget: "Gov. John Kasich launched his budget proposal saying Ohio needs to attack of the root causes of poverty and do more to help people lift themselves up to higher jobs and wages," writes NEOMG's Robert Higgs.

"But while some of his proposals have drawn praise for trying to address the issue, others have stirred criticism as actually harmful to people with lower incomes, while benefitting those more wealthy." The budget's tax-shifting is among the items drawing fire.

How other 2016ers are tackling state budgets: Kasich has it easy when compared with a few other governors testing the presidential waters. James Hohmann of Politico notes that Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker all face tough balancing acts.

Largest political fundraiser in Cincinnati history? That's what observers are calling the $250,000 haul that Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley pulled in in last week.

"Our goal is to raise $1 million before the primary and $1 million in the general election," the Democrat tells Sharon Coolidge of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Cranley is not up for a second term until 2017.

David Pepper's new assignment: The new Ohio Democratic Party chairman will "represent the Midwest region on the executive committee of the Association of State Democratic Chairs," per a statement emailed by ODP's Meredith Tucker.

"In 2016 and beyond, the strength of our Midwestern parties will likely determine the outcome of our national elections, so I'm excited about this opportunity to represent the Midwest at a national level," Pepper said in the email. "And as we work to strengthen the Ohio Democratic Party, this role will help us bring best practices and creative ideas back to Ohio, whether it's how to most effectively fight for Ohio families or how to build the strongest bench of Democratic candidates and officeholders around the state."

Bookmark Ohio Politics Roundup: Find each morning's roundup and past editions here. Tips or links? Send here. Follow along on Twitter: @henryjgomez.