AP Conversation: Kasich bets against voter anger
[...] he's betting his presidential aspirations that voters aren't, either — despite the sustained political strength of leading Republicans he says are taking the country "into the dark."
The second-term Ohio governor, trekking through New Hampshire, preferred not to go after his GOP rivals during an extended interview with The Associated Press.
No, this man is trying to win the presidency on his terms, which run counter to fundamental assumptions about the mood of voters.
Look, when people leave my town halls, a lot of them say, I'm hopeful again.
Because these problems are not that hard.
More than anything, the tell-it-like-he-sees-it governor condemned the angry politics that have shaped the 2016 Republican primary election.
Kasich spoke to the AP aboard his campaign bus in New Hampshire, the unofficial staging ground for his underdog candidacy.
In the year of the outsider, and as his competitors run from their political experience, Kasich embraces his 18 years in Congress and five years leading one of the nation's most important swing states.
In tone, message and experience, he occupies a unique political space in the packed 2016 Republican primary.
For now, however, people who don't support Trump or conservative firebrand Ted Cruz are divided among those candidates, Kasich among them, who are working to appeal to the party's centrist wing.
Like Kasich, Bush and Christie are trying to launch their campaigns with strong performances in New Hampshire, which typically rewards moderation over party ideology.
Kasich has achieved strong approval ratings in Ohio, in part by often refusing to criticize rivals in either party.
On the economy — Kasich's campaign focus — he calls the nation's economic growth under Obama "the weakest recovery we've had out of a serious recession since World War II."
The Ohio governor's campaign called Trump divisive and insulting, and described his plan to ban Muslims from the United States as "dangerous rhetoric" in online ads.