John Kasich is running in last place in the Republican primary field, but, hey, at least he's still running.
The last of what was once a crowded field of current and former governors, Kasich is betting the farm on his performance in his home state of Ohio, where voters go to the polls on Tuesday. A victory in the state's winner-take-all primary could give him a boost -- though winning the nominating is likely still out of reach.
On this edition of the Watchdog Podcast, Eric Boehm sits down with Ohio-based Jason Hart, Watchdog's national labor and health policy reporter, to talk about Kasich's campaign and his record as governor. Though candidate Kasich likes to talk about balancing the budget, his record in Ohio includes his long-term budget-busting decision to accept Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
Since Kasich likely can't win the nomination, why is he staying in the race? As Boehm and Hart explore, there's two reasons: he's soaking up delegates that might otherwise go to front-runner Donald Trump and he's potentially making a play to be the vice presidential candidate (Ohio is kind of important in the general election, after all). That might be a mistake for Republicans, says Hart.
Then, could lawmakers in Wisconsin undo some of the recent John Doe reforms?
Why is Texas spending $100,000 to build a toilet?
And how is Medicaid causing bigger problems for hospital's accounting of uncompensated care?
All that, plus the Nanny State of the Week, on this edition of the Watchdog Podcast.
