Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday, leapfrogging his Republican opponents after trailing the pack for almost the entire election season.
“There’s something that’s going on, and I’m not sure if anyone can quite understand the magic in the air with this campaign,” Kasich told a crowd of supporters in New Hampshire. “We had has tens of millions of dollars of negative ads against us. We never went negative because we have more good to sell than to spend time being critical.”
While Kasich had a strong finish in New Hampshire due to a focused investment in the state, the governor’s prospects aren’t looking strong in upcoming key states. Kasich is polling dead last with 2 points in South Carolina, the next key election state. In Nevada, Kasich registers 0 points in the polls.
Kasich has cast himself as a sensible moderate in a sea of radical Republicans, upset with the way Washington, D.C., is run. “When I’m president of the United States,” Kasich said, “first of all, we are gonna have a battering ram to knock down the walls of [Washington D.C] if they don’t want change.” Kasich supporters chanted “buy a seat belt” in reference to Kasich’s promise to abruptly change direction in Washington during his first 100 days in office.
Order yours today! https://t.co/sZ36fxHWB2 “America, Buckle Up: #First100Days” #GOPDebate #Kasich4Us pic.twitter.com/B9F0s2WJCl
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) February 7, 2016
”If you don’t have a seat belt, go get one.” Kasich said.
Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
