Kasich serves red meat at GOP breakfast

John Kasich speaking at the Ohio GOP's national convention breakfast: Politicker PhotoMINNEAPOLIS - If you walked in late to this morning to the Ohio Republican Party's delegate breakfast you may have mistaken it for a "John Kasich for Governor" rally with guest host Sean Hannity.

Kasich, a former U.S. representative from Columbus, is open to the idea of running for governor but will not make a decision until next year. Kasich joins former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Cincinnati) as one of those considering a run but holding off on a decision until next year. Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Springfield) is also said to be contemplating a 2010 gubernatorial run. 

After talking about the presidential race, Kasich turned his speech to what ails Ohio and how he would fix it.

Ohio's business climate is driving college graduates and businesses out of state, making Ohio the second-worst state for job losses. As a result, Kasich said 15 percent of Ohioans live in poverty and about 10 percent are on food stamps.

"This is not the beautiful state I moved to in 1970 to find my destiny and my future, and it can be fixed," he said.

The fixes Kasich proposed brought the crowd to its feet:  eliminate the state's income and inheritance taxes. Kasich said as chair of the House Budget Committee in the 1990s he and other Republicans helped balance the federal budget, pay down the debt and cut taxes.

"If we can get that done, this is a kind of piece of cake," Kasich said.
Kasich doesn't want to just cut taxes, but also take out government regulators too.

"I know how you deal with them, it's the same way ... you deal with a mule: you take a 2-by-4 and you whack him up the side of the head. You tie a couple of them and hang them on the side of the building and the word gets out. They're working for us, we're not working for them," Kasich said to cheers.

Kasich called Gov. Ted Strickland a "caretaker governor" as PolitickerOH.com reported earlier (see video).

Guest speaker and conservative radio talk show host Hannity told the crowd Kasich should run for governor.

"I have been encouraging privately John to run for governor, and yet I don't think he's made a decision yet," Hannity said, adding he and his wife would donate the maximum to Kasich if he runs.