Kasich’s mood turns when an aide comes over to brief him on the next event, a student panel on the economy at the University of New Hampshire. �You’ll ask questions, and the audience will ask questions.�
�I ask questions of whom?� Kasich snaps.
�Of the panel,� the aide explains.
�Why am I doing that?�
�Well, you give your opening statement��
�Opening statement! I mean, what is this? I’m asking people questions? They’re not asking me?�
Perhaps realizing he’s starting to flip out in front of a reporter, Kasich turns back to me. �Go ahead,� he says.
I ask whether he’d accept a VP slot if he doesn’t win the nomination. Kasich’s commanding reelection in Ohio�he won with over 60 percent of the vote in 2014�would seem to position him as a formidable vice-�presidential candidate. But he says he’s not interested. �Look, I’m trying to get the best job in the country. And if I don’t get it, I have the second-best job in the country,� he says of his governorship.
The sun is setting when we pull into the UNH campus. �Is this the best you can do?� Kasich says in jest, greeting an associate professor and some students.
�I have questions about the economy for you,� an eager boy says.
�If they’re hard, it won’t be a good ending for you!� Kasich chortles.
As the town hall begins, Kasich takes his place in front of a large electronic debt clock’s whizzing digits. The questions are friendly, save for a handful of green-energy protesters and a woman who challenges his stance on Planned Parenthood (he wants to defund it). He talks about his plan to bridge the partisan divide, balance the budget, and reform health care. �Leadership is the ability to walk the lonely road,� he says. �You’re not in politics to be a Republican or a Democrat as the first priority. You’re an American before you’re a member of a political party.�
It’s dark when we pile into the bus for the drive to the final town hall of the day, in Londonderry. The TV is now tuned to the Golf Channel. Kasich asks the driver to pull over at Dunkin’ Donuts so he can get a coffee and do a power walk around the Home Depot parking lot, a ritual the 62-year-old fitness freak has adopted on the trail.
No one recognizes Kasich as we wait to order. Under the fluorescent glare, he looks exhausted�this is his sixth state in five days. Tomorrow, he has three more events and a flight to New York to appear on Colbert. It’s a tough�and, yes, lonely�road. But Kasich is sanguine. �I’m not going to change,� he says. �It’s not worth it to me. Winning wrong is not winning in my mind.�