CAMPAIGN 2000

By JAMES CARNEY/WASHINGTON

Can a man really run for president with a Buster Brown haircut? Ever since word spread that JOHN KASICH was interested in the White House, the irrepressible Ohio Congressman with a passion for balanced budgets and the Grateful Dead has been dogged by charges that he lacks the gravitas for the job. According to critics within his party, Kasich, 45, may be the G.O.P.'s most inspiring communicator, but he's too young, too arrogant and too unfocused to run for President. But TIME has learned that Kasich is so serious about getting into the race that he has assembled a team of heavyweight political advisers to help him overcome the skeptics. Heading up the effort is DON FIERCE, a consultant who served as Haley Barbour's top aide when Barbour ran the Republican National Committee. Two other veterans of Barbour's successful R.N.C. operation, ED GILLESPIE and CURT ANDERSON, the former R.N.C. field director, are onboard, as are top G.O.P. pollster ED GOEAS and consultants STUART STEVENS and RUSS SCHRIEFER. Kasich's advisers have been busy pushing him to broaden his range beyond fiscal policy into the fertile Republican terrain of social-values issues. And one more image point: bangs went out with Bobby Kennedy.

--By James Carney/Washington