A super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential campaign has released a new television ad in South Carolina featuring former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who won the state in the 2012 GOP primary contest.
“Jeb Bush’s super PAC continues to throw mud — this time about John Kasich,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot, as a man wearing a “Jeb!” sticker and covered in mud is shown.
The ad goes on to quote a statement from Mr. Gingrich recently released by the pro-Kasich New Day for America super PAC: “Any suggestion that John Kasich is anti-defense is simply false. I served with him for 16 years and he consistently fought for a better, more effective military. Any ad attacking Kasich on defense should be pulled as false and misleading.”
Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s campaign, had released an ad asking why Mr. Kasich “spent his career supporting massive defense cuts.”
“We’re going to make the Pentagon a triangle — I’m thrilled,” Mr. Kasich, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, says in an old clip in the ad. “I spent a whole career trying to rein in defense spending.”
Super PACs are not allowed to directly coordinate with candidates or their campaigns, but Mr. Bush has said contrasting his record with Mr. Kasich’s on issues like Medicaid expansion is fair game.
Mr. Kasich has said recently he’s worried about the negative tone Mr. Bush’s campaign has taken and wondered aloud whether Mr. Bush was concerned at all about his family’s legacy.
Mr. Kasich and Mr. Bush are both far back in the GOP pack in recent polling of South Carolina, which holds its Republican presidential primary Saturday.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.