海角大神

John Kasich is a man of many passions.

Ask the governor of Ohio about drug addiction, and he鈥檒l give you a sermon. Ask about the environment, and he鈥檒l say it matters because 鈥渢he Lord gave it to us.鈥� Ask about his controversial (for a Republican) decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and he鈥檒l talk about helping the 鈥渄owntrodden.鈥�

Governor Kasich, who enters the presidential race on Tuesday, could also be called 鈥淛ohn the Evangelist,鈥� for the faith-driven sensibility he brings to public life. But don鈥檛 pigeonhole him as a religious conservative. In fact, see him using faith inappropriately, as a path to big government. And don鈥檛 call him a 鈥渃ompassionate conservative,鈥� 脿听la former President George W. Bush, a label Kasich .听

Here in New Hampshire, where he did a two-day swing last week, one man had another idea on what to call him.

鈥淕overnor Kasich, I first met you in 1999, when you ran [for president] for a bit, and I thought you were more mavericky than a certain mavericky senator from Arizona,鈥� he tells Kasich as he walks down Main Street in Newmarket, referring to John McCain, who ran for president in 2000 and 2008.

Kasich doesn鈥檛 agree or disagree. The man defies labels: a moderate on many issues, such as听his support for Common Core education standards and openness to a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants; and an arch-conservative on others, such as his drive for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

He could be the wild card of the 2016 race. Kasich is the two-term governor of the seventh-largest state in the country, a must-win battleground state. And unlike the other sitting governors in the race, he鈥檚 ,听丑颈蝉 notwithstanding.听

Kasich also faces massive competition. He鈥檚 the 16th Republican to announce for 2016, and with an average of 1.6 percent in , he鈥檚 in 12th place. As of now, that鈥檚 not good enough to make the main stage in the first Republican debate Aug. 6 on Fox News, which is inviting just the top 10 candidates in the polls.

But speaking to the three reporters covering him in Newmarket last week, Kasich disagrees he鈥檚 getting in too late. The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary is next February, after all, and he鈥檚 working the state hard. He鈥檚 already run a TV ad here. Right after his announcement Tuesday, in Columbus, Ohio, he heads back to New Hampshire for five town-hall meetings in three days.

So how does he win here?

鈥淏e in everybody鈥檚 home, and hopefully people will like you,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f they do that鈥檚 great, and if they don鈥檛, I鈥檒l still be governor of Ohio.鈥�

'Almost like preaching'

Just moments before, Kasich was speaking to a group of voters who had been invited by a state representative to meet with him at a restaurant in Newmarket, and they seemed receptive to his views.听

Responding to a question on the rise in drug addiction, Kasich rattles off statistics about the high percentage of Ohio prisoners with substance abuse problems and mental illness. He talks about mothers bringing him pictures of their sons as high school athletes, now dead from drug overdoses. He talks about his own children, twin teenage daughters, and how they know what he鈥檚 about to say: Don鈥檛 do drugs.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 even feel like this is politics,鈥� Kasich says. 鈥淭his is almost like preaching for me, all this stuff.鈥�

He talks about doubts in minority communities about achieving the American dream, and the fears of middle-aged workers who could get laid off at any moment and may not be able to retrain for a new career. And he riffs on the need to 鈥渞eignite the concept of citizenship鈥� and how 鈥渋t鈥檚 up to us to be part of healing the world.鈥�

Kasich also speaks the language of common ground, a pitch to voters increasingly tired of Washington鈥檚 hyperpartisan ways.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e going to get anywhere if all we鈥檙e doing is talking Republican, Democrat, red, blue,鈥� he says. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 concerned about the same things.鈥�

One voter asks how he can stand out in听such a large GOP field.

鈥淚 think the record in a big, big state matters, and my work in Washington, both on balanced budget and the defense committee,鈥� says Kasich, who was a US House member for nine terms听(1983 to 2001)听and chaired the Budget Committee the last time the federal budget was balanced. His panel also produced the welfare reform bill that President Clinton signed.听

鈥淪o that鈥檚 what I have to offer 鈥� that and my brilliant sense of humor and sometimes-caustic remarks,鈥� he adds.

If Iowa鈥檚 low-turnout, activist-driven caucuses favor conservatives, New Hampshire鈥檚 high-turnout primary could work for more establishment-oriented candidates like Kasich. The question is whether his moderate views are a good fit for today鈥檚 GOP.

The Ohio governor has signed on some high-end help. Former Sen. John E. Sununu (R) of New Hampshire is running his super political action committee, New Day for America. And Kasich has hired maverick adman Fred Davis, famous for in previous cycles.

'I'm like C.S. Lewis'

But Kasich鈥檚 biggest coup in New Hampshire so far may have been his invitation to attend the 90th birthday party of Ruth Griffin, the grande dame of New Hampshire Republican politics. The July 12 event at the Elks Lodge in Portsmouth was attended by some 200 people, including much of the state鈥檚 GOP elite. Kasich was the only aspiring or announced presidential candidate there and was invited to address the crowd.

He spoke about meeting Mrs. Griffin 鈥� and her newly adopted stray cat, Nicodemus 鈥� a few weeks prior. Did Kasich know who Nicodemus was, she asked him. Nicodemus was the biblical Pharisee who had been born again, he replied. Later, Kasich said, he called her to talk about the book of Ruth.

Kasich may earn Griffin鈥檚 endorsement. But when asked in Newmarket about the larger New Hampshire electorate, where people may live their faith but don鈥檛 talk about it, he has a ready answer.

鈥淚鈥檓 like C.S. Lewis. All the principles that I believe in I can barely keep,鈥� says Kasich, who was raised Roman Catholic but embraced Anglicanism after his parents were killed by a drunken driver.

鈥淚鈥檓 just going to be me,鈥� he continues. 鈥淵ou know, I wrote a book on faith when I was running for governor, and all my political handlers said, 鈥楬ey, you can鈥檛 do that.鈥� And I said,听鈥楩ine, they can vote against me.鈥� 鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 not worried about it. My view on faith is real simple. The Lord gave us a handbook; it鈥檚 got two parts to it. He told us, if you want to read it, great, if you want to follow it, great, if you don鈥檛 want to, your choice.鈥�

But, Kasich adds, 鈥淵ou ought to read it, because I think it鈥檚 the key to having a better life, even though none of us can keep it.鈥�