The Note: The Kasich Factor

ByABC News
July 22, 2015, 8:52 AM

— -- --WHY JOHN KASICH ISN'T PAYING ATTENTION TO DONALD TRUMP: Presidential candidate Donald Trump has over ten times more support than John Kasich in the polls, but the Ohio governor says he isn't worried, according to ABC's RYAN STRUYK. Kasich, who became the 16th candidate to enter the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, said that he has been watching golf instead. "I don't think about it, George. I have paid no attention to that whole business," he told ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS in an exclusive interview. "I paid a lot of attention to the British Open," he said. "Glad to see that guy from Iowa won." http://abcn.ws/1eg3HfU WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1RPJlfX

--BY THE NUMBERS: An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Monday shows Kasich at 2 percent support among registered voters. Trump is dominating the race with 24 percent, followed by Scott Walker with 13 percent and Jeb Bush with 12 percent. Kasich tied for 12th place in Monday's new ABC News/Washington Post poll. He needs to be in the top 10 in order to be on stage for the first Republican debate in early August. "It's the challenges that make you better. I have lived through them, and I have become stronger for them, and American has become stronger for them," Kasich said.

--KASICH SAYS HE'S 'FINE' IF HE DOESN'T MAKE IT INTO THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1Mo7Ddf

ANALYSIS -- ABC's RICK KLEIN: Gov. John Kasich won't lose the GOP nomination because he entered the race too late, or because of his quirky, improvisational style, or because of perceived breaks with party dogma. He'll lose for all of those reasons - unless, of course, he wins. Kasich seems to relish the odds. They're long because he's making clear that to capture the nomination, he needs the Republican Party to move toward him. That's more than an ideological challenge, and it's more than about personal discipline. It's about shifting a party's tone as well as its substance. Kasich is challenging Republicans in ways both overt and subtle - in accepting the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, and also in seeking to expand the party to appeal to those who are "black, brown, white ... hurt, addicted, big trouble, or rich." He's also offering an optimistic candidacy, built on "empathy" and what sounds like a version of "compassionate conservativism," to a GOP base that angrier than he is. It's also a party that has plenty of other choices, including the brother of the man who popularized the idea of appending the word compassion to conservatism. Can he move his party, asked ABC's George Stephanopoulos shortly after his launch. "I guess that doesn't matter, does it? That's my message," Kasich said.

WHAT WE'RE READING:

MEET THE FORMER JANITOR WHO GAVE $1,000 TO HILLARY CLINTON. Shortly after midnight on a recent Sunday, Marquis Boston knocked on room 1027 of the Marriott in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, to drop off a roll of toilet paper to a guest. A few hours earlier, less than a mile away, Hillary Clinton had just finished delivering a rousing speech to a crowd of 2,000 at the state Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. Boston didn't attend (he was napping before his nightshift at the hotel). But, as it turns out, the 34-year-old, Little Rock native who works two jobs, seven days a week is one of Clinton's biggest donors. He budgeted and saved up over the past year, cutting back on things like groceries and haircuts, so he could give $1,000 to her campaign - an amount that places him in an elite group: The top 6 percent of Clinton's first-quarter donors, alongside recognizable names like Sting, Spielberg and Beyonce. "I just had to kind of think of a way to make it happen, and so I just said, 'Well I need to just start budgeting,'" Boston said in a recent interview with ABC's LIZ KREUTZ: http://abcn.ws/1g4xdHc

--HOW HE DID IT: Sometime last year, months before Clinton formally launched her campaign, Boston, who's single, said he decided he wanted to be able to give money should she run. And that's when he started making little sacrifices. "I just curtailed some of the stuff on my grocery list, which was kind of junk food -- but it's good junk food," he explained. "I love Schwan's Strawberry Shortcakes, and I could just eat a vat of those. They are so good. So, I just cut those out of the budget." By the time Clinton announced her candidacy in April, Boston had reached his goal. http://abcn.ws/1g4xdHc WATCH: http://bit.ly/1TPXjMv

MORE FROM GEORGE'S INTERVIEW WITH JOHN KASICH:

--KASICH'S BIG TENT PRESIDENTIAL STRATEGY: 'BLACK, BROWN, WHITE - IT DOESN'T MATTER'. Kasich is casting a wide net at the start of his presidential campaign, hoping to bridge racial and economic divides on his way to the Republican nomination, ABC's RYAN STRUYK notes. "If you're poor, if you're black, if you're brown, if you're struggling, we care about you," ABC's GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS in an exclusive interview. "And we're going to work to make sure you're included in the American dream." Kasich, the two-term governor of the critical swing state of Ohio, became the 16th candidate to join the race for the GOP nomination on Tuesday. "I care about them. I want them to have a good life," he continued. "I want their kids to have a good life: black, brown, white, doesn't matter, hurt, addicted, big trouble or rich." http://abcn.ws/1JvRDzS

--KASICH ON WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO BEAT HILLARY CLINTON. In the interview, Kasich looked ahead to a potential general election matchup with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, ABC's ALI DUKAKIS notes. "I think the battle is -- against Hillary -- is who's got the biggest and largest vision for the country," Kasich said shortly after announcing his presidential campaign in Ohio. "I think she sometimes is really too narrow." During the interview Kasich told Stephanopoulos what he's been hearing from operatives in the Democratic Party about his chances in 2016. "I've been hearing from these Democrat operatives that John Kasich, me -- I don't want to sound like I'm Bob Dole, you know? But John Kasich, you know - me -- that I'm their greatest fear. I mean, we hear it all the time." Kasich added: "I actually ran into one of their big campaign managers. And he said, 'You know, we do worry about you.' I said, 'Why don't you say it publicly?' He said, 'Are you crazy? We're not going give you any publicity.'" http://abcn.ws/1Ihb6ru

--KASICH ON HIS 'BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT' WITH FAITH. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/1IdgUO9

THE BUZZ

DONALD TRUMP GIVES OUT LINDSEY GRAHAM'S CELL PHONE NUMBER. It's officially war between Republican Presidential contenders Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham. Just hours after South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called Donald Trump a "jackass," Trump retaliated by reading Lindsey Graham's cell phone number into the microphone during a speech in South Carolina on Tuesday, ABC's RYAN STRUYK and ALI DUKAKIS report. "[Graham] said, 'Can you mention my name?' I say, 'Yes I will.' And he gave me his number," Trump said. "And I found the card. I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it." Trump then read the number - which a representative from Graham's Senate office confirmed to ABC News is Graham's cell phone. "I don't know - it's three or four years ago - maybe it's an old number," Trump continued. "Your local politician: He won't fix anything, but he'll still talk to you." http://abcn.ws/1IcdrzB

CHECK OUT THE SEXIEST MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. Most voters probably don't fantasize about their elected representatives, but that didn't stop someone from developing a 'hot or not' for Congress - SexyCongress.net. Two lawmakers are matched against each other with the provocative question, "Who would you rather have sex with?" A selection is made based only on congressional headshots. No names, congressional districts or political affiliations are included with the photos until the rankings are revealed. The site's concept is similar to a program that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg developed during his early college years, known as Facemash, where students voted on the hottest classmates, ABC's JOHN PARKINSON notes. While the rankings are fluid and polling is still open, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is topping the chart at No. 1 among women as of late Tuesday morning. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, is sitting pretty at No. 1 among men. http://abcn.ws/1MFCbEq

TODAY ON THE TRAIL with ABC's CHRIS GOOD: Jeb Bush will be in South Carolina, where he'll visit the Carolina Pregnancy Center in Spartanburg at 10:15 am ET and hold a town-hall at Newberry Hall in Aiken at 12:15 pm ET. Later, he'll travel to New Hampshire to participate in an Americans for Prosperity town-hall in Manchester at 7 pm ET. Scott Walker will be in Tennessee, where he'll visit Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant in Nashville at 8:30 am ET. John Kasich will be in New Hampshire, where he'll hold town-halls at Portsmouth Country Club in Greenland at 11:30 am ET and Waukewan Golf Club in Center Harbor at 6 pm ET. Rick Perry will be in DC for a policy forum hosted by one of the super PACs backing his campaign, Opportunity and Freedom PAC, at The Willard at 2 pm ET. Carly Fiorina will be in Iowa, where she'll attend an event for state Sen. Ken Rozenbloom at Tassel Ridge Winery in Leighton at 6:30 pm ET. George Pataki attends a Stop Iran Now rally in Times Square at 5:30 pm ET.

WHO'S TWEETING?

@edatpost: Lindsey Graham's phone is still ringing. Now Kelly Ayotte's kids are answering. http://wpo.st/CxaR0

@WilliamPetroski: Donald Trump criticizes the Des Moines Register for editorial calling him to quit race http://dmreg.co/1JeuO88 via @DMRegister

@PhilipRucker: Shifting statements from Trump and his campaign about his Vietnam draft deferments, via @CraigMWhitlock https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/questions-linger-about-trumps-draft-deferments-during-vietnam-war/2015/07/21/257677bc-2fdd-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html?tid=sm_tw ...

@bpolitics: John Kasich says his time at Lehman Brothers helped him understand how business works http://bloom.bg/1ROr16M

@NickGass: "Donald Trump is real" - Donald Trump