Kasich finishes 5th in SC primary, but promises to stay in

Kasich made his case on the same day as the other GOP candidates canvassed the Sunday talk shows, all arguing that SC voters had expressed strong support for their candidacies. Marco Rubio, who won second place of Texas Sen.

He says he wishes he could have spent more time in SC, but that he and his team “did everything we could do”.

The two states hold primaries on March 1.

Bush had the cushiest budget among the GOP candidates, fundraising nearly doubling what his nearest competitor, Ted Cruz, had raised. In national polls, Kasich trails Trump as well as Sens.

That’s because he’ll need 20 percent of the vote – a threshold he has yet to achieve – in most upcoming states to even qualify for a single delegate. That’s where the tide is supposed to turn for Kasich, as the Republican contests become winner-take-all on March 15 in delegate-rich Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Florida.

“John Kasich is running a zombie campaign that exists only in three states in the hopes that he can gain some cache in the vice presidential sweepstakes”, said Bush spokesman Tim Miller.

“Every politician wants to tell everyone exactly what they want to hear”, Kasich said. He will hit the road next week for Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. “I worry that you’re just so nice”, she said.

The Bush campaign fired back on Saturday at Weaver’s assertions, saying that it expects to defeat Kasich and plans to campaign in Nevada, and that the OH governor has not planned any events before Tuesday’s GOP caucuses.

Kasich’s objective is to winnow the field so he can get a clear shot at Trump and beat him when the opposition to the billionaire is not fragmented.

Kasich’s speech also played up his electability in an important swing state – he defeated an incumbent Democrat there in 2010 in addition to his reelection in 2014 and his prior congressional experience – and his work ethic. Of course, that’s the same goal that the better-financed Cruz and Rubio have. The latest aggregate polling data from RealClearPolitics has him in fifth place in the “First in the South” presidential primary, drawing a measly 9.5 percent of the vote.