In South Carolina, as in other states, the glow around Kasich helped elevate his cause. After the Wednesday reception with legislators, he cheerfully took questions from reporters, explaining that he had no timeline or external pressure for making a race. Not even the fundraising power of Jeb Bush was scary to a man whose 2000 bid was buried by the fundraising power of George W. Bush “I don’t feel pressure from anything other than my wife to make sure I make an on-time telephone call,” said Kasich. From there, he stayed up until 10:40 p.m., talking to legislators. He reunited with them in the morning, at the state capitol, meeting one by one, Republican and Democrat, to sell them on the budget amendment. Only a handful of them declined to queue up and talk.
“I think he helped discourage the idea that this was maybe a partisan effort, or an attack on Obama, or something like that,” said state Senator Larry Grooms, the sponsor of South Carolina’s push for the amendment. “It was helpful to have someone who operates in a bipartisan fashion say that this was a bipartisan effort.”
If it passed? Why, the benefit to Kasich’s ambitions was just a bonus. “I think he’d be able to come here and take partial credit for the legislative victory here in South Carolina,” said Grooms.
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