COLUMBUS – Once again, it all comes down to Ohio.
The Buckeye State is the Republican Party establishment’s Thermopylae and John Kasich is playing the role of the 300 Spartans sent in to stem the tide of an invader: Donald Trump.
Polls for the Ohio primary election March 15 will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney will join Kasich on the campaign trail at the MAPS Air Museum in North Canton and at a rally at Westerville Central High School on Monday, according to Kasich’s campaign.
Romney is not endorsing Kasich’s bid for the White House but his presence at the governor’s side the day before the crucial primaries in Ohio and four other states shows how important it is to the GOP for Kasich to at least slow down Trump in Ohio.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday morning is the latest to show a close race between the two in Ohio’s Tuesday primary. The Ohio governor and the New York business tycoon are tied at 38 percent with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 16 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 3 percent.
The poll give Trump the edge among men and Tea Party voters while Kasich has a strong lead among women.
The race is a tight one on the Democratic ballot as well, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edging out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 51 to 46 percent on the strength of her showing among women and moderates.
Among Republican primary voters, the poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points. The margin among Democratic primary voters was +/- 4.2 percentage points.