Certainly better than the Kool-aid-handout-givers pictured above, and he didn't want to tax the rain like O'Malley and he actually had to make principled, hard decisions with deep thought unlike Chaffee (and he never killed a man like Webb did).

I understand he is not considered the most fiscally conservative but the man still is a conservative, and his record does speak for itself. I mean, forbes rated 4 cities in Ohio within the top 20 for best cities for mid-career professionals (Columbus was #1 and Cincinatti was #4), the state went from a 8 billion dollar deficit to a 2 billion dollar surplus and over 400,000 jobs have been created, in part thanks to Kasich's business friendly strategies. I think, taken to the nationally level as an idea and then given to the states to implement in their own way in true conservative fashion, we would see excellent recovery and growth nationwide.

You're right in saying he isn't a pure fiscal conservative but it wouldn't be entirely proper to call him a liberal either