Kasich Campaign Press Release - John Kasich Is Hitting His Stride Ahead of New Hampshire Primary Election

New Hampshire Union Leader

EXETER — Ohio Gov. John Kasich was quick to reply when a man in the crowd of about 200 welcomed him to New Hampshire Friday night.

"I live here, man," Kasich joked during a campaign stop at the Exeter Inn Friday night.

The Republican presidential candidate who marked his 50th New Hampshire town hall meeting this week was back at it Friday, speaking to a crowd that spilled into the hallway at the popular inn.

While New Hampshire polls show him trailing billionaire frontrunner Donald Trump, Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kasich appeared confident that he could climb in the weeks leading up to next month's New Hampshire Primary.

"I'm like a little engine that keeps coming along," Kasich told the crowd.

He loves holding town hall meetings here, he said, adding that people don't care whether he's famous or has money.

"New Hampshire could be renamed Cape Canaveral. You launch people into the conscience of America," he said.

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Kasich says U.S. must spend more on defense

By Max Sullivan

Seacoast Online

HAMPTON — Republican presidential candidate John Kasich talked foreign policy and his plan to increase spending on defense Friday at Lane Memorial Library.

The Ohio governor said he intends to put $100 billion more into defense spending by slowing the growth of Medicare from 7 percent to 5 percent, the growth of Medicaid from 5 percent to 3 percent and by freezing all non-entitlement programs.

While Kasich intends to spend more on the military, he said he would also seek ways to cut fat within the military's bureaucracy. As a U.S. congressman, Kasich said, he once fought against the Pentagon's request for 132 B-2 bombers to be built at a $1 billion apiece. He pushed for 13, and Congress ultimately agreed on 20.

"The Pentagon is inherently bureaucratic and wasteful. We build things we don't need, and it takes too long to get anything built," Kasich said. "The dollars we have to put in the military are precious. If we blow it on red-tape bureaucracy, then we're cheating the men and women in the military, but we definitely need to spend the money."

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"The Republican Party is my vehicle and not my master," Kasich said to one of the biggest applauses of the afternoon. "It's all respect. It's all reminding people they are Americans before they're Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives."

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