John Kasich to enter presidential race
Ohio Governor John Kasich will declare he's a candidate for the presidency, CBS News has learned. On "Face the Nation" Sunday, he told host John Dickerson "I just want to do it if I think I have a path to win."
Kasich plans to announce he's running at Ohio State University, his alma mater, on July 21. His plans were first reported by Politico.
He'll follow a string of other sitting GOP governors into the race - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will formalize his candidacy Tuesday, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is looking at the week of July 13, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal jumped into the field just last week.
It remains to be seen whether Kasich will be able to raise his national poll numbers enough to qualify for the first presidential debate on August 6 in his home state of Ohio. But he has maintained an impressive approval rating in his own state - 60 percent, according to Quinnipiac's latest polling, just one point down from his all-time high of 61 percent in April.
He acknowledged that of those running and considering a run, his national poll numbers are low. "I came into this office to take care of our beloved Ohio. I didn't travel outside the state. I didn't go out and politick, what I wanted to do was fix Ohio," he said to Dickerson.
And fixing Ohio's economy over the last eight years is likely to be central to Kasich's campaign message: "[W]e went from $8 billion in the hole to a $2 billion surplus, to a balanced budget, the largest tax cuts in the country and growing 360,000 jobs in the country with everyone having a chance."
He told Dickerson, "I can go out and tell my story and hopefully, the polls will rise."
CBS News' Steve Chaggaris and Alan He contributed to this report