Kasich Tells CBS News' Pelley He Hopes To Be Nominated At Contested Convention
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/CBS News) -- Even though he has only won his home state of Ohio, John Kasich said Tuesday that he still hopes to win the Republican presidential nomination at a contested convention.
Kasich sat down Tuesday with Scott Pelley on the "CBS Evening News" to talk about his hopes. Polls have shown that even though he has fallen behind Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the delegate count, he is still the only Republican who is projected to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Kasich noted that there have been 10 contested Republican conventions throughout history.
"And of the ten, only three times was the front-runner selected. Seven times it was somebody other than the front-runner," he told Pelley.
When Pelley noted that Kasich came in third, Kasich said: "So was Lincoln. I'm not Lincoln, but so was Lincoln."
But Pelley noted that Kasich was "not the front-runner, you're not the second-runner. You're way off in third."
"So think of it this way. Coke, Pepsi, Kasich, right? You go to the store. You're with your spouse. And your spouse says, 'Well yeah, I kind of like that Kasich, but I don't know that much about him,'" Kasich said. "As we've seen more and more of my message be able to be communicated, we're getting bigger crowds. And that'll translate into delegates. And delegates will translate into momentum."
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Kasich also discussed his proposal for revamping the taxation system.
"Well, we would lower it. It's sort of the Reagan plan. Twenty-eight, 25, 10 percent with 15 percent capital gain," he said. "And also, increasing the earned income tax credit so that people at the bottom are going to have the incentives to be able to make more money without being punished."
Kasich further said he would do away with President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, but would "want to make sure that anybody who has a preexisting condition can still get health insurance." On the issue of the war against terrorism, he said U.S. combat troops would be on the ground "for sure" in the interest of destroying ISIS.
"It's not the Kasich White House, it's all the civilized world that needs to go to war," he told Pelley.
When Pelley asked Kasich what hardship in his life formed his character, Kasich pointed to a drunken driving crash that killed both his parents in 1987.
"That was tough. I mean 'tough' is an understatement. As a kid, you know, I grew up in a blue collar town where, if the wind blew the wrong way, we saw people out of work. I mean I had a great childhood," he said. "But the most traumatic time in my life was the night I found out that one of my parents was dead -- and the other would be soon."
Pelley also asked whether the party could unite against Cruz and Trump. Kasich's tone was doubtful.
"I think it's very, very hard for people to turn around negative impressions in a relatively short period of time," he said.
Kasich went on to say he thought the party could unite and name one person, but, "at the end can they win? And in virtually every, as you mentioned at the top, in virtually every poll, I am the only one that beats Hillary Clinton."
