Sen. Marco Rubio visits Richmond Heights and campaigns with Josh Mandel
Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, left, greets U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at a 2012 Republican rally in Richmond Heights. Rubio offered an assist to Mandel's failed Senate bid that year, and now Mandel is returning the favor, endorsing Rubio's presidential campaign.
(Marvin Fong, Plain Dealer Publishing Co.)
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - Matt Borges was steaming.
The Ohio GOP chairman was here Wednesday in the desert for the start of the Republican National Committee's spring meeting when Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced his endorsement of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for president.
The move came as Gov. John Kasich, Mandel's fellow Ohio Republican, edges closer to a White House campaign of his own. It also came with Rubio already established as a top-tier candidate and Kasich still eager to make a splash or, at the very least, looking to avoid being embarrassed by someone from his home team.
Borges, a top Kasich booster, couldn't help himself. He texted one reporter airborne for Phoenix for the RNC meetings and called another back home to vent.
"The smart political move would be to wait and see if [Kasich] decides to get in," Borges said. He added, in a sharp elbow at Mandel: "I don't think that not having the support of a bit player is going to impact that decision one way or the other."
The remarks irritated some of Ohio's most vocal conservative activists, who took to Twitter to register their displeasure. Could this be an example of the prickly Kasich brand that reporters near and far have been writing about for a year?
Borges, who as state party chairman helped re-elect both Kasich and Mandel last year, had cooled off by the time he arrived at an evening reception. He said that he and Mandel had spoken by telephone and agreed to put their public feud behind them.
So what does all this political intrigue mean? And why does it matter?
For starters, this really isn't much of a surprise.
The timing is a bit odd, sure. Why not wait until Kasich has said definitively whether he will run? And here's the answer: Mandel probably wasn't going to endorse Kasich anyway. He and Kasich are not close. Mandel has publicly opposed some of Kasich's signature proposals. And Kasich exacted a bit of revenge by vetoing technology funding for Mandel's office. Would the timing have been any better had Mandel waited until Kasich officially entered the race, then went and endorsed Rubio?
Rubio backed Mandel in 2012.
When Mandel ran for U.S. Senate that year, Rubio and at least one other prospective 2016 presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, came to Ohio to campaign for him. Kasich didn't offer much help, though it's debatable how much he could have done at a time when he was only beginning to climb out of a polling abyss. Mandel lost the election to Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.
Mandel's endorsement doesn't mean much in the long run.
When Mandel gave an early endorsement this year to U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's re-election bid, it sent a message that Mandel, a Tea Party favorite, wouldn't support a challenge from the right. In Kasich's case, a presidential endorsement from Mandel probably would have been greeted by shrugging shoulders. By backing Rubio, Mandel created a minor stir and gave Rubio a minuscule boost by defying expectations.
A month from now, though, who will remember who a state treasurer endorsed?
Three years from now, on the other hand ...
Mandel is young and ambitious and will be looking to move up in 2018, when the GOP bench becomes suddenly top-heavy. By running afoul of Borges and Kasich, he runs the risk of losing their support for whatever he might want to do next.
Here's one speculative scenario that's not outside the realm of possibility: Mandel tries again for Brown's Senate seat. And, wait for it, a term-limited Kasich, assuming he doesn't end up as president or vice president, decides to run for it, too.