Ohio Gov. John Kasich appears to be counting on the Republican Party base to find its long-lost mind.

He wants to make them understand he only expanded Obamacare out of Christian duty. He wants to convince them there is value in the appeal he feels he’d have beyond the party’s lunatic fringe.

Either he believes he can do this, or New York Magazine‘s Jonathan Chait is right and Kasich is on a self-consciously futile  “quest for glorious martyrdom,” the purpose of which is never entirely clear.

I’m more inclined to the obvious: simple political ambition greased by sycophants and […]

The New York Times reports that Jeb Bush, now officially a presidential candidate,  plans to “play down his surname”. With presidential candidacies morphing as fads these days,  you must wonder how Jeb plans to elude repertorial references to his family name with an alias that will spring him from the mob scene of other candidates.  Jeb Reagan might  be worth a try, but several other GOP candidates may be ahead of him already.  Marco Rubio is said to be toying with adopting Polo as his surname, which would at least be more familiar to most young people entering the voting […]