COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — By timing the address to follow hismajor budget, tax reform and school
funding proposals, Ohio Gov. JohnKasich’s annual State of the State speech Tuesday in Lima will feel
morelike a stump speech for 2014 than the typical litany of big policyinitiatives.The Republican governor
will use the speech to promote his latest ideas for the state, rather than announce them.He’s said as
much."Forthose that are thinking that they want to come to Lima on the 19th for awhole bunch of new
things in the State of the State, don’t come," hesaid in unveiling his $63.2 billion, two-year budget
this month."Because I think we’ve got it all out on the field right now."Forthe second consecutive
year, Kasich is taking the address outsideColumbus, and outside the Statehouse, where pro-labor protesters
packedthe halls and sent up disruptive shouts during his first address in2011.Last year, Kasich made history
when he first gave the speechelsewhere, picking the Democratic and union stronghold of Steubenvilleto
highlight positives he said were taking place in economicallyhard-hit eastern Ohio, particularly surrounding
K-12 education and oiland gas exploration.With Lima, in northwest Ohio, Kasich hasfound a manufacturing hub
with significantly improved employment, whichalso sits in the heart of reliably Republican farm country. The
newleader of the Ohio Senate that’s sometimes block Kasich’s plans,President Keith Faber of Celina, lives
nearby.Located about 80miles south of Toledo, Lima was built around factories that madelocomotives and
school buses. Heavy industry still drives the city, hometo an oil refinery, a Ford Motor Co. engine plant
and the nation’s onlytank manufacturing plant.Like many of Ohio’s industrial cities,poverty is a problem in
some neighborhoods, but the city’s unemploymenthas been nearly cut in half from two years ago and now stands
at 7percent.President Barack Obama’s campaign rally just days beforethe election last November marked the
first time a sitting Democraticpresident visited Lima since Harry Truman stopped there in 1948. In theend,
Obama’s rival, Republican Mitt Romney, handily won Allen Countylast year, scoring 61 percent of the vote to
Obama’s 37 percent.Byreversing the usual speech-then-budget pattern of past governors, theformer congressman
is following a classic campaign format: Announce abig policy initiative, then hit the road to sell its
merits."He’strying to seize the initiative a little bit, kind of take a proactiveapproach," said
Grant Neeley, a political scientist at the University ofDayton. "It’s the second time he’s taking the
State of the Stateaddress outside the capital, so he feels like it’s a more receptiveaudience. He’s trying
to paint himself as a proactive governor comingforward with all those proposals kind of rapid-fire."To
review:—Inmid-December, Kasich announced his plan to borrow against future tollrevenue on the Ohio Turnpike
to generate up to $3 billion for highwayand bridge construction projects—On Jan. 9, the private
nonprofitjob-creation entity Kasich created, JobsOhio, announced with theadministration that it was moving
forward with the sale of $1.5 billionin bonds backed by future state liquor proceeds — disregarding a
pendinglawsuit against the entity’s constitutionality.—On Jan. 31, theadministration released its
much-anticipated overhaul of Ohio’s schoolfunding formula. Kasich said the aim was helping students in
poordistricts compete by narrowing tax-base disparities, while rewardinginnovation and expanding access to
vouchers. The plan gave an overallboost to the K-12 bottom line, proposing $15.1 billion in spending overtwo
years, but left the bulk of individual districts with little to noincrease in the first year.—Four days
later, Kasich unveiled abudget packed with significant policy overhauls. They included arestructuring of
Ohio’s tax code to phase in reductions to income andsmall-business taxes and applying the state sales tax,
at a slightlylower rate, to long list of additional services. The budget alsoincorporates an expansion of
Medicaid through the federal health careoverhaul, the new K-12 school-funding formula, and a new way of
fundingpublic colleges and universities that fosters cost-saving collaborationand emphasizes college
completion over enrollment.Mark Cassell,an associate political science professor at Kent State University,
saidKasich’s budget and school funding package is "very mixed" for Ohioans.By laying out the plan
ahead of the State of the State, the governor hasgiven himself a forum to defend it."There’s a bit of
smoke andmirrors in there," Cassell said. "In the last budget, he pushed alongthese draconian cuts
to the local level. He can now proclaim to be verygenerous to those local governments and schools, while
offering thesetax cuts. But broadening the sales tax will mean rising costs foreveryone, and the poor will
be hit the hardest."Cassell said, "Ithink he genuinely believes these things are going to work to
improvethe state’s economy." The State of the State will be his chance to sellthem.___Associated Press
writer John Seewer in Toledo contributed to this report.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.