Ohio Gov. John Kasich is on the bubble to make the first nationally televised GOP presidential debate’s main stage. Ten candidates will make Fox News’ prime-time debate, and Kasich is polling in ninth place, according to RealClearPolitics’ average of polls.
On Fox News Sunday, he appeared to blame the media for his position in early polls.
“As it relates to the polls, I’m governor of Ohio, I wasn’t traveling around the country trying to make a name for myself,” Kasich said. “Not many national reporters wanted to come out here and cover something that was going well … but look, everything is fine and I’m very pleased with where we are and I enjoy being out with the folks.”
Kasich bristled as the interview continued. Fox News host Chris Wallace asked about a tweet sent out by a Kasich adviser that likened preparing for a debate with Donald Trump to NASCAR drivers readying for a race knowing one of the competitors will drive drunk.
“He won’t be sending any more tweets like that, Chris,” Kasich said. “That’s not the way we operate.”
When Wallace pressed Kasich about Donald Trump’s candidacy and how the governor would approach the candidate onstage, Kasich said he’d challenge Wallace, a moderator.
“I might want to talk about you and the toughness of your questioning, but that would probably get applause,” Kasich said, addressing Wallace.
“You want to go after me in the debate, go ahead,” Wallace responded as Kasich laughed.
Kasich then interrupted Wallace’s next question to mock the host’s statement that the “main thing” Kasich was running on was his record as a politician.
“The main thing? What the heck else would you run on?” Kasich said.
Kasich has previously suffered from criticism that he acts like a “jerk,” and he did not seem to be attempting to shed that confrontational tone.
