There’s less than a month to go before the caucuses in Iowa, where Gov. John Kasich is today. And there's a little over a month until the New Hampshire primary, in which Kasich has invested most of his Republican presidential ambitions. Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler reports on Kasich’s latest thoughts on his campaign.
Back on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Kasich blasted as inexperienced both front-runner Donald Trump and rising competitor Marco Rubio, in his first term in the U.S. Senate.
“Republicans have run around for seven years saying this: ‘I can't believe we picked a one-term, United States senator who has no experience to be president.’ I just sometimes wonder whether the party's got amnesia.”
Donald Trump
As for Trump's strong showings in the polls, Kasich said he did not believe the New York real estate magnate would be the nominee, adding "I'd like to see his positions become more positive. Because I'll tell you this. If he comes into Ohio as a divider, he can't win. And what I want to do is beat Hillary Clinton. We need someone who is going to lift people and unite people.”
Chris Christie
Kasich also told Chuck Todd he’s not sure why Chris Christie has been moving up while he hasn’t, but said recent polls show him one point out of second place, with the next GOP debate next week.
“We want to be the story, Chuck. And let me just tell you that we're on the ballot now in over 30 states. We also have husband our resources well enough where we're actually going to be placing a television ad up this week. It shows that, you know, people just keep counting me out. They have all my career. We just keep plugging along.”
Tamir Rice
Gov. Kasich also weighed-in on the decision by Cuyahoga County Prosecutors not to indict the officers involved in the Tamir Rice shooting.
“Well, they're very frustrated. That's why we've created a police and community collaborative. You noticed that we have no violence in Cleveland with the second controversial decision. The credit goes to the community leaders, also to the mayor. And the fact is, the people in Cleveland are saying, ‘Well, this is frustrating, you know, we don't want to tear our town down.’
In addition, our Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor is beginning to look at the whole grand jury process. So we've been ahead of the curve on this. Let's just hope that the situation can continue and it can be peaceful, even though people still are disgruntled and want to protest.”
Asked Todd: “I was just going to say, governor, you called it a controversial decision. It sounds like you don't agree with the grand jury's decision.”
Responded Kasich: “I don't comment on grand jury decisions. This is for the people in Cleveland to decide. But people are on both sides of the issue. You know, they feel very strongly. It's a loss of a 12-year-old life, and of course it's going to be controversial.”
