John Kasich on NH: "If we get smoked here, I'm going home"
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday said he would drop his presidential bid if he doesn't finish in the top tier in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
"If we get smoked here, I'm going home," Kasich told reporters during a Bloomberg Politics Breakfast Briefing in New Hampshire.
Kasich has largely focused on the Granite State during the race and said Wednesday that his campaign is not going to be "dragging around like some band of minstrels begging people to come to our shows."
He dismissed the results from the Iowa caucuses on Monday, and admitted that "maybe in the short term," Sen. Marco Rubio's strong night could take away from Kasich's prospects in New Hampshire. Kasich finished eighth in Iowa with two percent of the Republican vote; Rubio finished in third place, a percentage point behind Donald Trump.
In an interview with Boston Herald Radio's "Herald Drive" program on Tuesday, Kasich expressed the same sentiment about getting out of the race if he doesn't do well.
"Our campaign will take a look at how we do on the 10th of February and then we'll make a decision," Kasich said. "We expect to finish high. I've said all along, if we get smoked up there, you know, I'm going back to Ohio. We don't think that's going to happen."
He recently received endorsements from The Boston Globe and The New York Times.
Kasich, who has served as governor of Ohio since 2011, previously served in Congress for nearly two decades and had also served for six years as chairman of the House Budget Committee.
CBS News correspondent Julianna Goldman contributed to this story.
