Kasich Not Featured In Oregon Voters' Pamphlet After Campaign Misses Deadline
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Oops.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's campaign committed a huge blunder as the Republican presidential candidate is not featured in Oregon's voters' pamphlet for the primary election in May.
The Register-Guard reported Kasich's campaign did not submit information to the state by the March 10 deadline.
Molly Woon, spokeswoman for Oregon's secretary of state office, told The Register-Guard Kasich's campaign was sent information on how to submit for the pamphlet before the deadline.
"We did not hear anything from them at all," Woon said.
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The Register-Guard reported nearly 1.5 million Oregon households receive free copies of the pamphlets as candidates pay $3,500 to put their half-page statement in the pamphlet, or can submit the signatures of 500 supporters and get their statement in the pamphlet for free.
Kasich is heading to Oregon this week. He has scheduled a town hall in Portland on Thursday and later in the day travels to Medford, a Republican stronghold.
Kasich and rival Ted Cruz announced they were teaming up in three states to try and torpedo front-runner Donald Trump's drive to seal the GOP nomination before the Republican convention.
Cruz and Kasich are essentially doing a trade, with Cruz stepping away from campaigning in Oregon and New Mexico in exchange for Kasich doing the same in Indiana. That puts Oregon's May 17 primary in the national spotlight.
Cruz and Trump are neck-and-neck in Indiana, so with Kasich taking a back seat, Cruz has a better chance of walking away with all 57 delegates up for grabs on May 3, said Ben Gaskins, an assistant professor of political science at Portland-based Lewis & Clark College.
Gaskins said Oregon and New Mexico were likely handed to Kasich because, unlike the other 13 remaining GOP primaries, both states have small delegate counts -- 28 and 24, respectively -- that are bound proportionally to however Republicans vote and the primaries are closed.
"In Oregon, Republicans tend to be more moderate, so it's unlikely Cruz would've done really that well in Oregon anyway," Gaskins said. "So this does allow Kasich to really consolidate the anti-Trump vote and perhaps come off with a victory ... which gets him a better point in the convention as another viable alternative to Trump."
The Cruz campaign is trying to rack up as many delegates as possible that are likely to sway in his favor should their votes become unbound after the first round of voting at the convention, "so I can imagine that he would have that assumption about Oregon and New Mexico, that those Kasich delegates would prefer Cruz to Trump," Gaskins said.
But Trump's Oregon operation is confident the move won't hurt their candidate.
"I'm not totally sure what they're up to, but I'm very confident their plan won't work, however, in Oregon and in general, just because I think the voters will see this for what it is -- it's trying to undermine the will of the voters and turn this into inside baseball delegate-type selection, instead of how we normally do it," said Jacob Daniels, Trump's Oregon campaign manager.
Bill Currier, chair of the Oregon Republican Party, said the Cruz-Kasich collaboration could end up benefiting Trump.
"I think this will actually strengthen (Trump's) base because he's always been the `outsider,' and so this will strengthen his base and they will feel like Cruz and Trump are ganging up on him, so I think it'll actually energize them," Currier said.
Oregon campaign organizers for Cruz and Kasich did not respond to requests for comment.
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