John Weaver — a top political adviser from John McCain and Jon Huntsman’s unsuccessful White House campaigns — is set to serve as a political strategist for potential Republican presidential candidate John Kasich, multiple sources tell The Daily Caller.
Over the last several weeks, sources told TheDC that Weaver, known for his embrace of moderate Republican candidates and his rejection at times of the conservative wing of the party, was being considered for the role.
Dan Balz of The Washington Post and Mark Halperin of Bloomberg News first broke the news Tuesday evening, also reporting that veteran strategist Fred Davis had signed up with the Ohio governor. A knowledgable source confirmed to TheDC that the deal had been inked.
After Weaver worked for John McCain in 2000, he became disillusioned with Republicans, switched parties and did consulting for the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee. He re-joined McCain’s campaign for the 2008 race, but departed after a campaign shake-up.
In 2012, Weaver ran Jon Huntsman’s short-lived campaign, before the former Utah governor and ambassador to China dropped out after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire.
Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, acknowledges that he’s considering getting into the presidential race. The Washington Post recently reported that he could might get in the race sometime near the end of June.
“I’m trying to determine whether I’ll have the resources to win,” Kasich told reporters earlier this month. “You know, if I don’t have the resources, and I don’t see a path to victory, I’m not going to do that. I Iove being governor. And so I think we’re, at this point, optimistic that we’ll have the resources to be able to move forward. But again, to be determined, so we’ll see.”
