John Kasich doesn't agree with other conservatives on issues such as immigration and same-sex marriage, and said Thursday that strict conservatism and early appeal in the polls aren't everything that's needed to win the Republican primary race.
"Look, if I win, I have a right to define what the party is, and along the way I'm defining what it is," the Ohio governor told
"CBS This Morning" host Charlie Rose. "You can build a campaign where you rise real fast, but you have no underpinnings."
Kasich pointed out that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who led in early polls, ended up dropping out last month, saying that as for his own campaign, it's "building the base to be able to be sustaining victory."
Meanwhile, the outspoken Kasich poked fun at the ideas proposed by other candidates, in particular at front-runner Donald Trump's call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.
"It's not practical to think we're gonna go take 10, 11, 12 million people and push them back over the border," said Kasich. "What are we gonna do? How are we gonna get them? Are we gonna ship them to the border and yell, 'Get out of our country?' It's not practical."
Kasich also renewed his call for a no-fly zone over Syria, warning "severe consequences" for anyone crossing the air zone, even Russia.
And unlike many others in his party, Kasich said he believes President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership is good for the United States' economy and foreign policy, and he supports it.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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