Here come the govs. The latest rumor making the rounds in Ohio and Colorado is that Governors John Kasich (O-R) and John Hickenlooper (C-D) are considering a 2020 run for president and sidekick.
Kasich, still stung from a poor showing in the 2016 primary, and Hickenlooper have been seen together at a plethora of joint appearances of late, talking about health care and immigration issues, and gossip-mongers have grasped on to the idea of an independent ticket.
The “Unity” ticket, is the phrase being bandied around by a few media outlets that have grown weary of Russia-gate but can’t figure out how to blame Trump for Hurricane Harvey.
Axios reported the Johns had tossed the idea of podcasts and television to media outlets that would cement their “brand” as a power couple on issues important to America. And neither side is out right denying their cross-partisan collusion:
John Weaver, a top adviser to Kasich who served as the chief strategist for the Ohio governor’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, told Business Insider to expect to see a lot more of the pair in the coming months.
“They work very well together and will continue to lead on health care, immigration, and probably other key issues,” Weaver told Business Insider in an email, adding a smiley emoticon.
Read that last sentence again. A smiley emoticon? Weaver must be a happy guy, or that was code for a wink and a nod.
The National Review recently printed this opinion piece on what the Unity ticket might add or detract to the 2020 political scene:
The mission for the Democratic nominee in 2020 is to win the states Hillary won and find another 38 electoral votes. For the sake of argument, assume the independent ticket headed by Kasich wins his home state of Ohio; this leaves Trump with 288 electoral votes, assuming he keeps all the rest of his 2016 states red. But Kasich winning Ohio would keep those 18 electoral votes out of the Democratic nominee’s pile, as well. If Hickenlooper helps the independent ticket carry Colorado, that’s 9 electoral votes that the Democrat will have to make up elsewhere.
For stalwart Democrats and Republicans, this union portends chaos and doom, fracturing both parties if there was to be a three-way race. Remember what happened when the unconventional billionaire Ross Perot jumped into the 1992 presidential race? Well, for those who wish to forget that part of our U.S. election history, he garnered 19 million votes as an independent and helped Bill Clinton defeat a sitting president, George H. W. Bush.
Hickenlooper had demurely poo pooed the rumors and fired out a few tweets to set the record straight:
“Odd & funny that people expect a political marriage when 2 people from different parties work together,” Hickenlooper said in the first of three tweets.
“Kasich is dapper & worldly, but knows nada about brewing beer,” he quipped. “Loving the attention on our bipartisan work but no ulterior motive. Not a unity ticket, just working with a new friend on hard compromises.”
Kasich and Hickenlooper are doing the work of their states and attempting to form an alliance that will aid their constituents. Our Congress should take a page (or just read a page) out of their political playbook and start to work together on the Hill to break the gridlock and get the job done for the people who elected their sorry behinds. The mid-term elections will set the course for 2020, but I for one would love to see Kasich-Hickenlooper campaign signs – no red or blue, donkeys or elephants. Instead, the Unicorn will prance around in purple and pink, with glitter hooves, the snowflakes will sigh, and Antifa will unmask themselves. I guarantee there will be world peace.
