Kasich inches ‘closer and closer’ to 2016 decision

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said Friday he’s getting “closer and closer” to making a decision about whether to run for president.

“I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t interested, and we’re getting closer and closer to making a decision. It’s a discipline process because I don’t want to do this just for the sake of it. I need to know that I could win and look at what I bring is a record that’s unique,” Kasich said in an interview on Fox Business Network.

{mosads}Kasich expressed confidence he has the necessary qualifications to lead the White House by touting his records in Congress and as governor of Ohio on both defense and fiscal issues.

“I served on the Defense Committee. I was Chairman of the Budget Committee in Washington when we balanced the budget, and Ohio has had a massive turnaround, and I was in the private sector for 10 years. No one has all of that,” he said. 

Kasich predicted during the interview that critical votes on trade would pass in the House on Friday.

The lower chamber, however, later rejected a vote on a bill that would provide aid to workers who would be displaced by a future trade deal. A subsequent vote on fast-track authority that allows Congress to take an up or down vote on a trade deal, but not amend it, passed. It won’t go to the president’s desk because of a procedural rule.

The Ohio governor is hinting further at a 2016 run with a June 24 trip to the early-voting state of Iowa.

Kasich served in the House from 1983 until early 2001.