COLUMBUS – The presidential candidates from both parties are preparing for next week’s Wisconsin primary amid increasing rancor among the three remaining Republicans in the race.
None of them is committing to support whoever the party chooses as its standard-bearer in the fall campaign. Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz and businessman Donald Trump were asked the question again Tuesday night town hall appearances in Milwaukee hosted by CNN.
Kasich said, “I’ve been disturbed by some of the things I’ve seen and I have to think about what my word and endorsement would mean in a presidential campaign so I want to see how this thing finishes out.”
Trump, who is the front-runner, replied, “We’ll see who it is.” Cruz said, “I’m not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and children.”
Kasich continues to dismiss calls by some Republicans for him to drop out of the race, hoping to keep up his role of spoiler for Trump in Wisconsin and winning the nomination at a contested July national GOP convention in Cleveland.
Kasich told an audience of supporters in Madison on Monday that he is the candidate with the best shot at winning the White House in November and the one best suited to lead the country as president.
While he did not mention either of his rivals by name, he criticized policies put forth by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz as “amateur hour,” the result of inexperience, and said he is the candidate who will confront the threat of terrorism and repair partisan divisions at home.
“We’re fighting for the future of our children,” Kasich said. “This is not the time to play around or to play politics. … This is a time for leadership…”
He said in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview over the weekend that Republicans should unite behind him because polls indicate he has the best chance of beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in a general election race.
Trump also said Tuesday that he stands behind his campaign manager who is charged with simple battery in Florida for allegedly roughing up a reporter who tried to ask a question.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is taking aim at Trump’s hardline immigration policies and the violence at some of his rallies in a new television ad that her campaign says will run in New York.
At a town hall in Appleton, Wisc., Democrat Bernie Sanders zeroed in on +that state’s restrictive voter identification law.