Kasich: 'I'm Not Interested' in Talking About Cruz's Birthplace

Outspoken GOP presidential candidate John Kasich said Tuesday that he's got a great deal to concentrate on while seeking his party's nomination, so he's "really not interested" in the debate over whether rival Ted Cruz is a natural-born citizen and eligible to be the president.

"I'm sure that he is, and I don't really care," the Ohio governor told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on the morning "New Day" program. "We've got so many problems. We've got people whose wages are frozen, income inequality, people who live in the shadows with mental illness or drug addiction. We've got to help our community to rise."

And, said Kasich, "I've got too much I want to say positively to get America moving again than to spend my time talking about where the heck Ted Cruz was born. I'm not interested."

But Kasich said he is interested in winning in New Hampshire, and if he does well there "I believe I'll be the nominee."

"This is going to be my sixth debate and I'm beginning to believe that contrary to what the media says, I really believe that real experience as a reformer, fighting the establishment, bringing about change, matters to people.

"Particularly when people think they have been ripped off, that nobody listens to them," said Kasich. "That the rich and the special interests call the tune. They never have with me. And they never will."

Further, he said, if he'd been listening to the "prognosticators" out there, he would have been out of the race months ago.

"What can I tell you, I was involved in changing the welfare system, balancing the federal budget, taking Ohio from a devastating situation, giving everybody a chance to rise and I can tell you, you don't get that done by bullying, you get it done with certain skills," said Kasich. "You have to know how to bring people together."

As for New Hampshire, Kasich said winning there would "give me the name recognition and people would begin to hear who I am . . . If we come out of there strong, I believe we're going to have momentum that could take us all the way to the nomination."

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