Roads toward U.S. presidency run by Detroit
Detroit — Michigan's standing in the 2016 Republican race for president developed a heightened focus Monday as Ohio Gov. John Kasich tested his message with local business leaders and famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson scheduled a White House campaign decision next month in his native Detroit.
Kasich addressed the Detroit Economic Club on Monday before touring Campus Martius buildings owned by Dan Gilbert as part of a national effort to test viability for a presidential campaign. The former nine-term congressman is headed to the early primary voting states of South Carolina Friday and New Hampshire Saturday.
His Detroit appearance came as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida entered the presidential race with a promise to move the nation beyond the politics of the past, a jab at both Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton and his one-time Republican mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Standing in front of a banner that proclaimed "A New American Century," the 43-year-old Cuban-American used his first speech as a presidential candidate to take on two of America's political dynasties. In doing so, he bet heavily on the electorate's frustrations with Washington and his ability to change how voters see his party.
"This election is not just about what laws we will pass," he said Monday evening. "It is a generational choice about what kind of country we will be."
He said it's also a choice between the haves and have-nots, nodding to his own upbringing by working-class parents. "I live in an exceptional country where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege."
By contrast, Kasich refused to put a timetable on when he'll decide to join what's expected to become a large field of Republican presidential contenders.
"I wouldn't be doing all of these things if I wasn't serious about it," Kasich told reporters after touring the Chrysler House, another reborn downtown office building.
If he does decide to run, Kasich said he will offer a "blunt" assessment of American politics and the country's most pressing issues, from the federal debt to immigration policy and education reform.
"I want you to like me, but I'm not going to lie awake at night if people here say 'Well, we just don't think he's the guy.' I'm cool with that, but hopefully you will. And, um, tell your friends and neighbors," said Kasich, who flirted with running for president in 1999 before bowing to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
As Kasich ponders his future, Carson is not waiting much longer to make a decision after forming an exploratory committee in early March. He is scheduled to make a presidential decision announcement May 4 at a ticketed event at the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
The Carson event will occur on the same day Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is to speak at the Oakland County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day dinner at Suburban Showplace in Novi.
Walker also is among a deep bench of GOP governors, senators and aspiring politicians considering the 2016 race, which on the Democratic side remains dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's second bid for the job once held by her husband, President Bill Clinton.
Vice President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House Monday that he hasn't decided whether to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. "I have plenty of time to do that in my view," Biden said.
Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are the only big-name Republicans to have formally entered the race. Bush, who spoke to the Detroit Economic Club in February, is still exploring a bid for the presidency. He'll return to Michigan May 28, for a speech to a joint Lincoln Day dinner for the GOP in Clinton and Ingham counties.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, another potential Republican candidate, will be in Lansing May 12 to speak at a Michigan Chamber of Commerce Foundation dinner.
Carson to make return visit
But Carson's May 4 event in Detroit promises to keep Michigan in the spotlight and highlight Carson's rise to fame.
He was raised by a single mother on Detroit's northwest side, graduating from Southwest High School, Yale University and the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He now splits his time between the Baltimore area and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Carson, 63, was in Michigan this month to deliver a paid speech at Alma College, and he's recently appeared in New Hampshire, Iowa and Tennessee, giving a speech this past weekend at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association.
Compared with the GOP front-runners, Carson's organization hasn't been been very visible in Michigan to date, said Stu Sandler, a Republican consultant in Ann Arbor.
"The top-tier candidates at least have visible support and visible personalities backing them in Michigan," Sandler said. "He's got some work to do to build that into a presidential campaign."
Carson's support is strongest among social conservatives and Tea Party voters, but the first-time campaigner has little chance of being backed by the GOP establishment, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"The last president elected who had never been in any elected public office was Dwight Eisenhower, and he was supreme allied commander in World War II. Carson has not led us through any wars," Sabato said.
"And given all the controversies in his record, it would be Goldwater all over again."
Sabato was referring to 1964 Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who was also prone to gaffes.
Last month, Carson apologized after telling CNN that being gay is a choice because people "go into prison straight — and when they come out, they're gay." Carson later said on his Facebook page that "my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues."
Kasich: Help 'a way station'
Kasich was elected Ohio's governor in 2010 after a private-sector stint at Lehman Brothers until the Wall Street investment banking firm's 2008 collapse in the financial crisis.
The governor touted his record in Congress battling the military over wasteful spending and trying to reform Ohio's welfare system, placing a focus on helping people with drug and alcohol addictions get help.
"We want the help we give people to be a way station, not a way of life," Kasich said.
On the hot GOP primary topic of immigration, Kasich said he doesn't favor offering 12 million people in the country illegally a way to become legal citizens. But he said that option is better than deporting them.
"We don't have enough buses to put 12 million people on a bus, ship them to the border and yell 'Get out,' " Kasich said.
Kasich said he's still studying a campaign for the nation's highest office, knowledgeable of the big role Ohio plays in deciding presidential elections.
"If it makes sense, you know I'll do it," Kasich said.
Following Kasich's speech in Detroit, the Democratic National Committee criticized the Ohio governor's economic policies and cuts to education funding.
"Kasich has proved that when it comes to economics, he is no different than any other Republican," DNC spokesman Jason Pitt said in a statement, "doling out tax cuts for the wealthiest and pushing the burden onto the middle class, while gutting education and rejecting investments in infrastructure."
Staff Writer David Shepardson and the Associated Press contributed.