Trump in Ohio

Kasich ambushes Trump in Ohio

By Daniel Strauss

John Kasich greeted Donald Trump’s arrival in his home state on Monday the old-fashioned way: With a knuckle sandwich.

Only the Ohio governor wasn’t there to throw the punch himself.

Trump’s arrival — for an evening rally in Columbus — was perfectly timed for Kasich, who is seeking to become the tip of the spear of the establishment Republican effort to dislodge the brash real estate tycoon from his position atop the GOP presidential polls. But the governor, through media events and digital ads, opted to let his surrogates throw all the haymakers.

The attacks on Trump ranged from comparisons to President Barack Obama to knocks on the billionaire's penchant for outrageous statements to doubts about his national security chops.

"The last thing we need, watching the last seven years up close and personal, is somebody else who gives great speeches, who can be pretty provocative, and have an incredible following — almost like a rock-star following — but not being a very good president, quite frankly," said Ohio Rep. Pat Tiberi, a Kasich supporter, during one conference call with reporters.

Team Kasich’s attacks on Trump follow the news, first reported by POLITICO, that the pro-Kasich super PAC New Day for America was planning a multimillion-dollar effort to go after the GOP front-runner. On Friday, Kasich’s campaign released a Web ad blasting Trump as indifferent to Russian aggression. It also emailed statements from more surrogates on Sunday, including former Sen. George Voinovich saying, “Donald Trump’s rhetoric has been egomaniacal, inflammatory, and divisive.”

On Monday, New Day for America’s ad blitz began in earnest with the release of a video rounding up some of Trump’s most inflammatory comments, including his attack on Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and his claim that he has a "great" relationship with "the blacks." The super PAC also sprang for a plane to circle the Greater Columbus Convention Center a few hours before Trump's rally, carrying a banner message that read: “Ohioans Can’t Trust Trump.”

The campaign joined in on Monday, releasing a video online titled “Trump's Federal Government Religious Database” that slammed Trump for his openness to the idea of a federal database system tracking Muslims.

Later in the day, Kasich’s campaign held yet another media availability with Rep. Steve Stivers, Shaker Heights Councilman James Brady, and retired Col. Tom Moe, who the Kasich campaign noted was shot down during combat duty in Vietnam and spent “the next five years alongside U.S. Sen. John McCain.” That event was billed as a media availability for “Ohio military veterans to discuss Donald Trump, National Security prior to Trump's Columbus speech today.”

“You might not care if Donald Trump says Muslims must register with their government because you’re not one. And you might not care that Donald Trump says he's going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants because you're not one. And you might not care that Donald Trump says it’s OK to rough up black protesters because you're not one,” Moe said. “And you might not care if Donald Trump wants to suppress journalists because you’re not one. But think about this: If he keeps going and he actually becomes president, he might just get around to you, and you better hope that there’s someone left to help you.”

Trump’s campaign did not offer a response to POLITICO about the Kasich attacks, but ahead of his event, he lashed out at his host:

The counterpunch, hardly Trump's first, comes after months of boasting that every candidate who attacked him has been destroyed.

“You have Lindsay Graham attacked me. He was at 3 percent. Now he’s at zero. You have [Rick] Perry attacked me. Now he’s getting out of the race. He was at 4 or 5 percent. Now he's getting out of the race. He was at zero,” Trump said in September. "Everybody — Rand Paul attacked me. I see the last poll, the Monmouth poll, just came out today, where I’m leading by double figures and Rand Paul is down to less than 2 percent, and he attacked me.”

Trump boasted of his lead over Kasich at the event Monday night, ticking off recent polling showing him leading the entire field while the Ohio governor lagged behind.

Wow, your governor's only 2 [percent]," Trump said. (Kasich’s latest standing in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls is 2.8 percent.) "What happened?"

Switching to a different poll, Trump noted he was polling at 32 percent.

"Kasich: 2," Trump said. "Wow, that's not good."