John Kasich Is Called an ‘Obama Republican’ in New Hampshire Ads

Updated, 9:31 a.m. | MANCHESTER, N.H. – Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has steadily gained ground in the New Hampshire polls, drawing few attacks from his opponents as they have fought among themselves.

Now, that will begin to change.

A national conservative group, the American Future Fund, plans to spend $1 million on ads in New Hampshire that brand Mr. Kasich an “Obama Republican,” according to the group’s chief strategist.

The group will run a commercial that goes after Mr. Kasich for supporting Common Core educational standards and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It shows an image of Mr. Kasich smiling, face to face with Barack Obama, and calls him “one of the few Republican governors to cheerlead Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.”

The ad closes: “John Kasich — Not a conservative. Not even a moderate. An Obama Republican.”

Nick Ryan, the president of the American Future Fund, said the group will air the ad on broadcast and cable television in New Hampshire, as well as in the expensive Boston media market. The American Future Fund is incorporated as a nonprofit group and does not disclose its donors.

The TV campaign is the most intensive effort yet to challenge Mr. Kasich in New Hampshire, where he has concentrated his 2016 efforts, wooing more moderate and upscale Republican and independent voters with a message about balanced budgets and bipartisanship.

Mr. Kasich has defended his support for Medicaid expansion in Ohio as a policy of compassion toward the poor, and has called Common Core standards helpful for raising student performance. He was endorsed by The Boston Globe on Monday.

Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Mr. Kasich, said the ad was an “unprincipled smear” that did not reflect the governor’s full record. Mr. Kasich, he said, had been opposed to the Affordable Care Act and favored limits on the role of the federal government in education.

“It’s a testament to Governor Kasich’s continued strength that these shadowy, desperate, misleading attacks are now emerging,” Mr. Nichols said.

Mr. Ryan said in an email that Mr. Kasich had been “misleading New Hampshire voters” about his record. “The real John Kasich record looks like something you might expect from a liberal politician like Barack Obama,” Mr. Ryan said, “not a Republican governor.”

Mr. Ryan, who is also steering a “super PAC” supporting Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, in the presidential race, said the anti-Kasich ads were unrelated to Mr. Huckabee’s campaign.