John Kasich, your time has come

OPINION:

The internet is mocking Ohio Gov. John Kasich. I hope he’s paying attention.

It’s not like I even care anymore whether he gets out of the GOP presidential contest. He got whupped so badly Tuesday night he’s become irrelevant. He’s been in the race almost a month longer than Marco Rubio and still has 28 fewer delegates than the Florida senator. He’s lost 31 out of 32 contests.

Not only has Mr. Kasich won just one state — his own — since March 15, he hasn’t even won a delegate in that time frame.

Mr. Kasich has framed his campaign on the premise he’s electable, that he comes out the victor in head-to-head matchups against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. That may be true in hypothetical contests, but Mr. Kasich is losing actual Republican state races, and with every loss, like it or not, his electability theory is undercut.

A basic reality is this: Mr. Kasich needs to win the Republican nomination before he can take Mrs. Clinton on. And that’s not going to happen. He hasn’t run as organized a campaign as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or has the popular support of businessman Donald Trump.

According to Phil Kerpen, president of conservative group American Commitment, Maryland is probably Mr. Kasich’s best remaining state to win, and he’s filed only 15 of 24 district delegate slots.

Mr. Kasich is hyping his electability in Pennsylvania, but he failed to deliver all of the 2,000 signatures he needed to get on the ballot. Mr. Rubio’s team filed a lawsuit that prevented Mr. Kasich’s name from being on the ballot because of this, but, alas, they filed it 13 minutes too late. Mr. Rubio’s ally dropped the suit, clearing Mr. Kasich for the Pennsylvania ballot — but what a pathetic show.

Wisconsin was supposed to be a good state for the Ohio governor, along with Michigan and Illinois — neighboring Midwestern states. He’s lost them all. His Rust Belt strategy is dust, and any delegate who would vote for him on the third or fourth ballot, needs to start questioning that strategy because Republican primary voters have squarely rejected Mr. Kasich.

Adrian Chen, a staff writer at the New Yorker, wrote on Twitter: “Kasich is that last guy at the house party who you’re trying to put in an Uber but he’s all ’It’s cool I’ll just sleep on the couch!”

Jonah Goldberg from the National Review agrees.

“John Kasich is this election season’s The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave,” Mr. Goldberg wrote in an article titled “Why Won’t John Kasich Go Away?”

The Business Insider and Gawker reported Thursday that Mr. Kasich was binge-eating his way through New York. At a campaign stop there he reportedly ate two plates of spaghetti bolognese, a sandwich with mozzarella, pickles, salami, provolone and hot peppers.

Mr. Kasich, eating will not make your problems go away. But maybe if you went home to Ohio they would.