Ohio Governor John Kasich made his first official campaign stop in New Hampshire as a presidential hopeful last night. The Republican candidate spoke to a friendly crowd at Rivier University in Nashua that included both long-time supporters and undecided voters.
Kasich is running on what he calls a practical record of balancing budgets -- first as a congressman in the Newt Gingrich- and Bill Clinton-era, and more recently as a two-term governor of Ohio.
"My whole vision is: How do we make changes and improve things for the people that I serve?" Kasich told the crowd of about 250 people. "And I’m not really all that interested in party, ideology, any of that other stuff. I’m a conservative, but my job is to fix things."
Kasich is among the very last candidates to officially join the race for the GOP presidential nomination. That leaves him just a few weeks to get his poll numbers high enough to qualify for the first GOP debate on August 6, which some are calling the unofficial “first primary.”
Kasich will campaign in New Hampshire through Thursday.