While Fred Barnes is focusing attention on GOP rising stars who are not (yet) running for president, National Review‘s Duncan Currie is highlighting the potential impact of four newly elected Republican governors.
Since the Buckeye State’s governor-elect was once my congressman (back when I was in high school), I’ll excerpt this blurb:
Governor-elect John Kasich has signed Grover Norquist?s Taxpayer
Protection Pledge (thereby vowing not to support tax hikes), as has
incoming Ohio house speaker Bill Batchelder. Both are rock-ribbed
conservatives. Kasich, 58, first gained national recognition during his
tenure as House Budget Committee chief during the Clinton years, and he
later worked as a Fox News host. Addressing a luncheon of lobbyists and
special-interest bigwigs just days after his election, he delivered a
stern warning: ?We need you on the bus, and if you?re not on the bus, we
will run over you with the bus. And I?m not kidding.?… Buckeye conservatives hope that Kasich will become Ohio?s Chris
Christie: an aggressive budget-slasher prepared to confront the unions.
