Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign says it is not coordinating with other candidates to stop Donald Trump despite a campaign schedule that offers little Republican competition days before the primary in Ohio.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said Friday that the governor’s campaign has not spoken with Sens. Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz regarding a way to defeat Trump in Ohio, where Cruz and Rubio have no scheduled appearances before the primary.
Nor is Kasich going to Florida, Rubio’s must-win home state. Of the five states with Republican contests Tuesday, Kasich is expected to only be in Ohio, where he said a loss would end his bid for the White House.
Trump — with his event in Dayton and at the I-X Center in Cleveland on Saturday — was also in Ohio, according to schedules. Rubio, similar to Kasich’s play in Ohio, has no plans to leave Florida.
Do or die
Rubio and Kasich (who have won a single state between the two of them) are battling for the anti-Trump spot behind Cruz, 100 delegates behind the billionaire and apparently not putting up a fight in Ohio, or Florida.
Cruz held a town hall meeting at a Florida church Friday morning with former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina and Sean Hannity of Fox News.
He is scheduled to campaign in Columbus on Monday.
Should Trump take Ohio, Florida or both, the Republican Party will find it difficult to prevent the anti-establishment front-runner from reaching the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination. More than half of the nation’s Republican delegates will be awarded following Tuesday’s elections. With many states opting for winner-take-all scenarios after the Republican Party changed its rules this year for awarding delegates, wins in Ohio and Florida would put Trump on pace to win the nomination.
No collaboration?
None of the campaigns has admitted a collaborative effort to stop Trump.
However, Rubio spokesperson Alex Conant endorsed Kasich over Trump in Ohio in a CNN interview Friday morning.
“If you are a Republican primary voter in Ohio and you want to beat Donald Trump, your best chance in Ohio is John Kasich,” Conant told CNN. “My answer is John Kasich is the one candidate in Ohio who can beat Donald Trump. That’s stating the obvious.”
Rubio made similar comments later that day during a news conference in Florida.
“Clearly, John Kasich has a better chance of winning Ohio than I do, and if a voter concludes that voting for John Kasich is our best chance of stopping Donald Trump, that’s what they’ll do,” Rubio said.
Those comments come nearly a week after Kasich, speaking in Tennessee, suggested that candidates who can’t win their home states should get out of the way. Cruz already won Texas. That just leaves Rubio and himself.
“Some of the other candidates, if they can’t win their home states, they got to get out. OK?” Kasich said, according to the New York Times. “If I don’t win my home state, I’ll get out.”
The Kasich campaign wouldn’t comment on whether Kasich still plans to drop out should he lose. Instead, spokesman Chris Schrimpf said: “We agree with the Rubio campaign that the best chance to beat Donald Trump in Ohio is by voting for John Kasich. And in that spirit, Sen. Rubio should immediately tell his Super PAC to stop attacking the governor.”
Super PACs, by law, are not supposed to coordinate with campaigns.
“We do not coordinate with outside groups. Period,” said Greg Brooks, regional spokesman with the Marco Rubio campaign. “We have not coordinated with any other campaigns about strategic voting in Tuesday’s primaries. Voters in Ohio will make their own decisions on who to vote for. In Florida, we have argued that any voter who wants to defeat Donald Trump should vote Marco Rubio.”
Trump is holding onto a narrow lead over Kasich in Ohio. In head-to-head match-ups, something the Kasich camp has noted makes their candidate the most electable this fall, Ohio’s governor beats Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton where Trump falls short.
In Florida, Trump has a larger lead over Rubio, who is creeping up in the polls.
According to an average of major polling, Real Clear Politics reported Friday that Trump is leading Kasich in Ohio by 2.5 percentage points and Rubio in Florida by 14.7.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug.