Who Saved Ohio, Barack Obama or John Kasich?

The way John Kasich sees it, he is fulfilling a grand design, a mission for which he was chosen by God, to save Ohio. “It’s like what what’s-his-name told the hobbit,” Ohio’s Republican governor told me as we flew on the plane that ferries him around the state. “What’s that guy’s name? Gandel? Gandorf?” A pair of young aides seated across from Kasich called out helpfully over the drone of the engine. “Gandalf,” Kasich repeated. “Do you remember what he told the hobbit?”

I didn’t.

“ ‘You’re a very fine fellow, mister hobbit,’ ” Kasich intoned, waving a finger at me. “ ‘But this is a wide world, and you don’t think all these things happen by accident.’ ” He paused to let this sink in. “And I don’t think it’s an accident that I got into this job.”