If elderly current and former senators could pick the Grand Old Party’s next presidential nominee, Ohio Gov. John Kasich might have already walked away victorious.
For the second time in as many days, the governor has gained the endorsement of a prominent septuagenarian, another Republican politician turned lobbyist.
Former New York Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, 78, endorsed Kasich on Wednesday, following the endorsement his Republican colleague, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, 73, made on Tuesday. In a statement released by Kasich’s presidential campaign, D’Amato indicated his support hinged on the idea that Kasich remains best capable of winning back the White House.
“We Republicans need to capture the White House and in order to do that, we must win Ohio. John Kasich is the only candidate who can assure us of that victory,” D’Amato said in the statement. “John Kasich will make America strong and respected. He is a leader, plain and simple. He’s the only candidate in the race with a proven record of leadership on state and federal levels. He’s straight talking. He does what he believes and he does it well. Look at Ohio; it’s come back strong and people are rising.”
D’Amato served as senator from 1981 until 1999, after he lost his re-election bid to Democrat Chuck Schumer. The last Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate from New York, he now serves as a lobbyist at Park Strategies, LLC.
“John Kasich is a proven political winner in a very tough state for Republicans,” D’Amato said. “He is the candidate who can get America back on track. I’m all in.”
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, 80, has not bet the house on Kasich just yet, but he came considerably close on Wednesday.
“I’m not going to pick one, but the sleeper in the race in my opinion is John Kasich,” Inhofe told Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. “While we have several candidates who are governors, and I like them all, but in terms of what he has done in Ohio, I think, has surpassed them all.”
Inhofe continued to explain that his recipe for success could feature Florida Sen. Marco Rubio joining Kasich at the top of the ticket.
“It would be kind of nice to have either as a president or a vice president Ohio and Florida so if he had Marco Rubio as a vice president and him as the president that would be something that would make a lot of sense,” Inhofe said. “That’s taking all issues out of it, that’s taking all philosophy out of it it’s just saying how to win.”
Kasich’s support from the three well-respected senators in Washington could pay dividends for his campaign in 2015, but it may not have a long-term benefit. All three senators will exceed the average life expectancy of men in America by approximately five years in 2024, which could be the end of next president’s second term.
The Buckeye State’s governor has performed exceedingly well in recent polling. Kasich’s job approval rating matched an “all-time high” in a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday. And a survey released by Public Policy Polling, a left-leaning firm, showed Kasich was the only candidate to defeat the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of the 15 Republican candidates tested against her in New Hampshire. Kasich remains tied for seventh place with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
