Ohio Gov. John Kasich remained the optimist today as New Hampshire voters headed to the polls. A good showing here is largely regarded as crucial for Kasich to continue his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, and he was buoyed by his win in the first community to be tallied. He beat Donald Trump three votes to two in Dixville Notch; the other four votes went to Democrat Bernie Sanders.
Kasich will move onto South Carolina tonight, and told CNN that reporters who say he has no ground-game there haven’t been watching.
“I would say you ought to believe virtually nothing of what you read and hear on this campaign day, and only half of what you see. If you want to see what we have, you come on down to South Carolina. Y’all come. Y’all come. Because we’re going to be changing some snow shoes for some flip flops and we’re going to go from fried clams to jambalaya.”
Before he heads out, Kasich spent the day in New Hampshire,
visiting polling places in New Hampshire with his wife Karen. He also jumped behind the counter at the famous Red Arrow diner in Manchester to pour coffee for guests and even deliver a plate of food.
He told CNN his campaign has been gaining interest here and beyond.
“I can’t begin to tell you how many millions of dollars have been actively spent against me by virtually every candidate in the field and yet we’re continuing to do well and we think we have the momentum., And we’re going to take a big plane tonight down to South Carolina. We’ve been traveling around like sardines and now all the press wants to go – it’s pretty interesting to be in the center of this tsunami.”
Kasich has staked his campaign on doing well in New Hampshire and on being boosted in South Carolina and other southern primaries by key endorsements.
