Kasich: ‘I’m Going To Be the Nominee’

SMERCONISH: "If you believed that the only way to deny Donald Trump the nomination would be by personally getting out of the race, would you be prepared to do so on that basis alone?"
KASICH: "I would never believe that. I would never believe that I’m not going to be the nominee and there’s all kinds of reasons for me to believe it because you know what I’m the last governor standing. There were 16 people in the race. It’s down to four or five of us. And I believe we’re doing well. We’re gaining momentum both from a political and a financial perspective, and look, if I get head-to-head with Donald Trump in Ohio, I beat him by 18 points. So I believe that I’m going to be the nominee."
SMERCONISH: "I saw a tweet that you sent out within the last 24 hours that said you expect Donald Trump is going to win everywhere on Tuesday. If that’s the case, then what is the Kasich path to victory?"
KASICH: "Well, look, we think we’re going to get delegates here and this thing will head north and I just explained to you that I’m going to beat Donald Trump in Ohio. Once that happens, everything changes. Everything changes in this race. And we have many, many more races to go. And the calendar begins to work for me."
SMERCONISH: "I don’t doubt that you beat him in Ohio and perhaps elsewhere if you could get him alone but you’re not going to get Trump to yourself by March 15 because Rubio is not going away."
KASICH: "Yes, but we’ll beat him in Ohio when we get the March 15th and if it isn’t head-to-head. We’ll win anyway. We’re going to do well in Ohio. Don’t worry about it. We’re going to do fine."
SMERCONISH: "Governor, I thought you were the adult on the stage in Houston Thursday night, and I want to ask you this, were you embarrassed by what was going on in the center of the stage between Rubio, Trump and Cruz?"
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CRUZ: "Donald claims to care about --"
TRUMP: "You know —"
CRUZ: "Donald -- he said -- I understand rules are very hard for you. They’re very confusing."
TRUMP: "I have his book — [crosstalk] -- Thank you, thank you for the book --"
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SMERCONISH: "Because I looked into the audience and I saw Bush 41 for whom I once worked and was proud to serve and I looked at him and I looked at what was going on in the center of the stage and I said “my god has the party fallen since his era.” What were you thinking?"
KASICH: "Well, I mean, at one point everything was unintelligible, somebody told me that when they were doing the closed caption, they flashed up on the closed caption unintelligible. So that is never a good thing when that is happening."
SMERCONISH: "I was thinking of the fact that after the last cycle, Reince Priebus wrote that autopsy on the GOP and they reduced the number of debates because they thought the GOP brand was harmed. I’m watching what happened in Houston Thursday and I’m saying if John Kasich pulls this off and becomes the nominee, does some of that bad behavior, not on your part but of your opponents come back to harm the brand of the party under whose label you’re running?" 
KASICH: "No, I don’t think so. I think that, you know, once you pick a nominee, the nominee gets to call the tune, gets to set the agenda, gets to set the mood, gets to set the tone, and look, you know, it’s sort of like they were asking a question about well, what about Hispanic voters? I’m not changed my position on immigration. So if I’m the nominee, it’s my position on immigration that represents the party. Part of what I would have the ability to do for those who are listening is to begin to redefine to some respects what it means to be a Republican, what it means to be a conservative."
SMERCONISH: "Did you make any effort to get Chris Christie’s endorsement?"
KASICH: "Yes, I talked to Chris a couple times, and, you know, I think, you know, look, Chris went to New Hampshire. He wanted to win. And I got in and he didn’t win and I think that’s always kind of a tough situation but Chris is a good friend of mine. He will remain a friend of mine. And, you know, I was a little surprised by it but life will go on. It’s not going to really have a major impact on our campaign but of course I wanted to have his support but just didn’t get it."