CONCORD, N.H. – While his GOP rivals are in Iowa for the presidential caucuses, Governor John Kasich continues to focus on next week’s primary in New Hampshire.
Iowa voters begin the nationwide process of choosing a new U.S. president.
Kasich yesterday visited a New Hampshire Elks lodge, saying that if elected president he’d push Congress to freeze every federal regulation not dealing with health or safety for a year.
The governor does not plan to return to Iowa for today’s caucuses, choosing to host three events in New Hampshire instead.
His absence didn’t stop him from picking up the endorsement of the Quad-City Times, Iowa’s third-largest newspaper. The paper called Kasich “the poster-child for all thinking Republicans.”
That vote of confidence came the same day that one of the country’s most influential publications threw its support behind the two-term governor.
The New York Times issued its support, saying Kasich is “the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race.”
In supporting Kasich, the Times also wrote, “Mr. Kasich said recently that he had, ‘raised the bar in this election. I’ve talked about hope and the future and positive things.’ In this race, how rare that is.”
Kasich’s campaign says he has been endorsed by more newspapers than any other candidate, including including two other Iowa newspapers the Boston Globe and six New Hampshire newspapers.
Leaders of a super PAC backing Kasich are accusing another group backing Marco Rubio of playing a role in an attack ad by a group that doesn’t have to reveal its donors.
The American Future Fund recently spent more than $1 million on an ad calling Kasich an “Obama Republican.”
Rubio backers deny involvement.