Ohio Gov. John Kasich admitted during Thursday's Republican presidential debate that he doesn't have the ability to win enough delegates to take the nomination without a contested convention, but said there's more to it.
"Math doesn't tell the whole story in politics," Kasich said. "The great thing about politics, the reason why we watch it, is because what's true today is not necessarily true tomorrow, so let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Kasich said he doesn't know if there will be contested convention, "but if we do, I was at one in 1976 as a wee lad and supported Ronald Reagan and worked for him."
Reagan lost that effort, but Kasich said he still has hope moving forward with more than half the delegate count yet to be awarded.
"That's what's going to be a very interesting thing to see how it all turns out as we move forward over the next couple weeks," Kasich said.
He has yet to win a state, but has hopes as he is ahead in some polls in his home state of Ohio, which votes on Tuesday.
Front-runner Donald Trump said whoever has the most votes going into the convention should be the party nominee even if he doesn't reach the magic number of 1,237.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is running second in the delegate count, was asked what he would do to keep Trump's supporters from leaving the party if Trump gets the most delegates but Cruz gets the nomination.
"Make me president," Trump interjected.
"Donald, you are welcome to be president of the Smithsonian," Cruz shot back.
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