 "Kasich to drop out of presidential race: report")
Governor John Kasich of Ohio has announced his exit from the Republican presidential race, leaving alone Donald Trump who is now the party's presumptive nominee for the November 8 general elections in the US.
"While I suspend my campaign, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfil the purpose of my life," Kasich on Wednesday told his supporters in Ohio, making a reflective note of his journey so far as a nominee to the White House.
Though the last of the 16 Republican presidential aspirants to withdraw from the race, Kasich, a popular two-term Ohio Governor, has had a miserable campaign so far. He could win only in Ohio and muster a little over 150 delegates from the primaries and caucuses held in more than 40 states so far.
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"The people of our country changed me. They changed me with the stories of their lives," an emotional Kasich said. Unlike others in the race, he ran a positive campaign, but could not gather enough support to slow down the 'Trump Train'.
"That's good. That's nice. That's interesting. It's very interesting," Trump told the Time magazine in an interview when the news of Kasich suspending campaign came.
"So Kasich is dropping out," he then mused to TIME. "Hmm ... That's big. I didn't think that was going to happen," the real estate mogul was quoted as saying.
With Trump alone in the race in the Republican party, he being crowned as the presidential nominee at the Cleveland convention in July is now only a formality.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz had on Tuesday suspended his campaign for the White House as a Republican nominee after he suffered a devastating defeat in the Indiana primary.
In his remarks, Kasich stressed that economic growth is imperative to the success of the country. "Economic growth gives people an opportunity to realise many of their hopes and dreams in life, and without a job the family is weaker, the community is weaker, the neighbourhood is weaker, the state suffers and our country struggles," he said.
The Ohio Governor said economic growth can be achieved by public officials if they just do their job, ignore polls, and overcome the fear of re-election or criticism.
"See, the formula is simple and it works. It is common sense regulations that don't crush our small businesses, because that's where our kids get their work now increasingly. That's the fastest area of job growth," Kasich said.
"We know we need to lower taxes for individuals and we have to cut taxes for our businesses so they start investing in America, and not some country located in Europe, and we need a realistic path to balance the budget, and frankly, nothing more imperative than a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to force the Congress to do their job," he said.
Stressing that "power, money and influence needs to be shifted from the government back to the people", he said that America needs to be run again "from the bottom up".
"However, the spirit, the essence of America lies in the hearts and souls of us. Some missed this message. It wasn't sexy. It wasn't a great soundbite," Kasich said.
