COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's John Kasich, a blunt governor who embraces conservative ideals but disdains the political sport of bashing Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to become the 16th notable Republican to enter the 2016 presidential race. The second-term governor and former congressman declares his candidacy Tuesday at Ohio State University, where as a freshman political science major in 1970, he audaciously wrote a letter that landed him a 20-minute audience with President Richard Nixon. His entry nearly rounds out an unusually diverse Republican lineup with two Hispanics, an African-American, one woman and several younger candidates alongside older white men such as Kasich, 63, and Jeb Bush, 62. Kasich (prounounced KAY'-sik) ran for president once before, briefly seeking the 2000 nomination after he helped seal a federal balanced budget deal as House Budget chairman in 1997.