I have often wondered about people who change their party affiliation from one to the other. What changed their minds? What would cause a conservative with an asserted conservative world view (less government, less taxes, more accountability) to become a tax-and-spend Democrat? What would cause someone who viewed the government as the source of everything good in the country and for whom imposing taxes and draconian environmental regulations was more important than economic survival, to abandon that view and become a Republican? Could it be that these people are less about principles and more about holding on to power? Stay with me.
Before our local Maryland primary on April 26 — part of the so-called I-95 set of primaries that was Donald Trump’s penultimate victory before his clinching Indiana win — I spent a couple of days canvassing for John Kasich and local candidates door to door, at public places, and at the polls in Frederick and Montgomery Counties. I’ve done this a couple of times before elections and have never regretted it; I always learn a lot about what’s on other people’s minds.
Ricochet, let’s have it out. Put it all on the line, and let’s hear the predictions for Indiana. Here is mine: I think 
Even after a big win for Donald Trump in the New York primary last night, it is still likely that no candidate will arrive at the convention with a majority of the delegates on the first ballot. A recent 
Tuesday, the Empire State went to the polls. New York is a big deal because it’s nominally the home state to three of the four leading presidential contenders. (Well, four of five if you include George Pataki.) Bernie Sanders is from Brooklyn (which explains the accent). Donald Trump is from Queens (which explains … a lot). And Hillary Clinton is a 100 percent authentic New Yorker who bought a mansion in Chappaqua to meet the residency requirements to run for Senate from a state she’d never lived in. (Not that we’re still bitter or anything…)
John Kasich: Governor of Ohio. Presidential candidate. Gentile.