Former Rep. John Kasich (R) will announce his candidacy for governor of Ohio today at 5 p.m. in his hometown of Westerville, as stated on his campaign website. Cleveland's Plain Dealer reported last week that the event would take place.

Kasich -- a nine-term congressman, FOX News commentator and presidential candidate in the 2000 election -- filed papers for a bid one month ago today. He aims to defeat Gov. Ted Strickland (D), who easily won a first term in 2006 by defeating Republican Ken Blackwell by 23 points. President Obama defeated John McCain in Ohio last year by 5 points.

For more background on Kasich, here is an excerpt from a write-up by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Salena Zito:

Kasich developed a reputation as a congressman that stood for lower taxes, family values and reduced spending during the heady days of the Newt Gingrich led Republican Revolution. His last few weeks doing the covered-dish detail across the state has shown he has not veered from that plank.

Kasich entered and left the GOP primary for president in 1999 but was an extremely inventive campaigner. In New Hampshire, he rode a dog sled and in Iowa he did a bowling alley crawl to reach voters called "Rolling Through Iowa."