This is pretty big news on the national level, as many GP governors have resisted the Medicaid funds. John Kasich will be running for re-election soon, so it’s not too surprising that he went in this direction.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced Monday that he will accept the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, becoming the fifth Republican governor to embrace the provision of the health care reform law that the Supreme Court made optional.

The governor unveiled the decision as part of his budget proposal.

“We are going to extend Medicaid for the working poor and for those who are jobless trying to find work,” Kasich said at a press conference in Columbus. “It makes great sense for the state of Ohio because it will allow us to provide greater care with our own dollars.”

This makes sense, and only those politicians who are obsessed with partisan politics are resisting these dollars.

When the GOP swept into power in states like Ohio and Wisconsin, many pundits speculated that this would be terrible news for President Obama and Democrats in 2012. Yet they didn’t take into account some of the radical changes and cuts that would be passed by these governors, and now we’re seeing that Governors like John Kasich might be the best asset for Obama and the Democrats next year if these poll numbers hold up..

In Ohio, Republican Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating stood at just 30 percent last week, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Earlier in the month — even before Kasich detailed a budget featuring cuts to Medicaid, local governments and more — the University of Cincinnati had that number at 40 percent. Both surveys showed nearly half of voters disapproved of Kasich.

Kasich has plenty of problems. First, he’s very abrasive. Then, he declared war on the unions in Ohio, including the police and firefighters unions that traditionally support Republicans. Now he’s paying the price.