mark: good evening from manchester, new hampshire, on a very busy political day throughout the united states. president obama just finished a press conference at the white house where he discussed a range of issues including raising the debt ceiling, funding for planned parenthood, and hillary clinton's comments criticizing his syria policy, which the president dismissed. he said there's a difference between a president and presidential candidate. the big topic as well was the shooting in oregon yesterday on the question of gun control and gun safety. i'm here today with drew cline who was until this week the editorial page editor of "the union leader" the biggest newspaper here in the state.

we're going to talk about politics and the day we spent with john kasich, but first, everybody running for president today has been reacting to that horrible shooting in oregon, including jeb bush, who today in greenville, south carolina, said this -- mr. bush: look, stuff happens. there's always a crisis and the impulse is always to do something, and it's not necessarily the right thing to do. mark: at the white house, president obama was asked -- how would you react to governor bush? this is what the president said. president obama: i don't even think i have to react to that one. [laughter] president obama: i think the american people should hear that and make their own judgments based on the fact that every couple of months, we have a mass shooting, and in terms of -- and

they can decide if they consider that stuff happening. mark: the lines have been drawn pretty clearly. republican candidates are basically saying now is not the time to look for government action. democrats are calling for the kind of gun measures that they call for. does this shooting, given the time of the presidential race, change the debate of politics on guns? drew: newtown did not change it. i don't think this one does. these shootings are tragic, depressing, frustrating. i think a lot of americans share the kind of frustration obama had, but you have to take that into the legislature, the point of which is to cool it down and get into a rational debate. once that happens, then it changes. mark: public opinion polls suggest the president's position is more popular than legislatures and congress around the country. if you were running for

president in 2016, would you rather have politically a position closer to hillary clinton, who wants more gun or someone like jeb bush or donald trump? drew: i would not want to be running in favor of gun control. i think it's not politically popular around the united states. mark: does it surprise you clinton and sanders will go after gun control? >> it is a divisive issue, and for democrats, it is a popular position. you do not want to necessarily be running in a democratic primary saying no gun control. mark: in the general ledger, would you suspect that whoever democrats nominate will play it down yahoo! drew: not too much, no. you want to rally your side. mark: last night, house speaker in waiting kevin mccarthy tried to clarify his comments from earlier in the week about the

benghazi committee, politics, polls, and hillary clinton. mr. mccarthy: that committee is solely to get the truth out. you found out about a server. it was never my intention to ever imply that this committee was political because we all know it is not. mark: inspiring? not inspiring? clarifying? not clarifying? here is what the leading candidate for the republican presidential nomination had to say about mccarthy's statement when i asked him. should he be speaker of the house? mr. trump: i would like to see somebody that is very tough and that can negotiate with the democrats, and i don't know that he is that person. we need somebody that is a very, very tough, smart, cunning person. i don't know that that is him, and obviously, this statement hurt him pretty badly in the eyes of some, unfortunately. mark: also fanning the flames of

doubt about mccarthy was bill kristol, who tweeted that a handful of republican committee chairs in the house are better prepared than mccarthy is to be speaker and that not only are republican members of congress very concerned about mccarthy but that he is well short of the 218 votes he needs to make speaker. there is time to find someone else to get into the race. drew, given what mccarthy said and his posture, do you think he is digging himself in deeper or climbing his way out of the hole? drew: we just had two segments that featured a recurring problem in the republican party -- inarticulate republicans. if you are going to be speaker in the house, one of the frustrations with john boehner was that he did not fight, but the other huge frustration that did not get enough attention was that he did not speak. mark: he also did not make a lot of mistakes.

drew: right, because he did not say anything. you do not want another who stumbles over his own tongue. mark: if mccarthy becomes speaker, is he going to be successful? drew: it's a little early to say, but it's not a good time when you come out and say something that dumb as your first big moment. it did not make any sense. he should have never said that thing in the first place. mark: having rung the bell, what does he say now? drew: say the point he was trying to make was we were investing in a legitimate investigation, and it showed that she is not trustworthy. it confirmed -- mark: mccarthy better hope that boehner gets in debt ceiling and some of these issues off the table because if his speakership starts with this and he's trying to get tough issues done without nancy pelosi's help, he's going

to start speakership in a very bad way. new hampshire, this is your state. while we did spend the entire day with just one of the republican presidential candidate, there are 14 other republicans running for president. what is your overall take for the republican nomination? who has a good chance right now? drew: in new hampshire, i feel bad saying this and john kasich's headquarters, but right now, fiorina looks good in new hampshire. rubio is on a great trajectory, even though he is low. i think ben carson. mark: you did not mention trump, who is leading. did not mention bush. drew: no. bush has a chance. mark: why fiorina? drew: she's exciting. people have seen her communicate. people want to come to her events.

mark: you say rubio, but his poll standing is not that great. people complain he's not here very much. what leads you to believe he has a chance to catch up? drew: when you talk to republicans about who they like, who they are more interested in seeing, those names come up. mark: but trump, too. his name comes up all the time. drew: when you talk to real republican voters. mark: chris christie? drew: he has a chance because he is so good with crowds. mark: you don't rule out that john kasich or bush could win the primary? you are saying there's eight or nine people. primaries in february. eight or nine people could win. we have never had anything like this. is it possible someone surges to a big lead? drew: yes, but i don't think they will. mark: coming up, a day in the life of john kasich. specifically, this day and this john kasich right after this. ♪

mark: we are back here in manchester, new hampshire, john kasich's brand-new headquarters. his first day here. today, it started with a morning visit to the hotel gym. ♪ mr. kasich: this feels quite a bit staged, you know. i will make sure you don't run into a wall.

>> is it cold outside? i've never seen you with a tie before, halperin. how's the weather out there? mark: do you know your schedule right now, or do i go one by one and ask the staff? mr. kasich: i have a semblance. i know we are going to see gordon humphrey. then i don't know where we're going. guess who won the football game last night? steelers. mark: is that what you predicted? mr. kasich: i did.

>> it's my pleasure this morning to join senator john sununu and peter thompson and so many other public officials and private citizens around the state and extending my endorsement to governor john kasich of ohio in his campaign for the office of president. mr. kasich: this is a big deal to have gordon humphrey and peter thompson. i would like to call on the president of the united states and the leadership in the congress of the united states to create sanctuaries, safe havens in syria, perhaps along the jordanian border, perhaps along the border with turkey, where we would create no-fly zones. mark: do you think other candidates are seeing you as a major threat? mr. kasich: what is interesting

to me is they are kind of bragging about being in my library. it's really cool. they set up my old congressional office, and now they have material from me being governor and all that. i love and people visit that library. i just never expected bush people to be directed to that library, but they say they are having a lovely time. i would think they were there because they are getting nervous, but when you trail in places like new hampshire where john sununu has built a great team and you are not doing so hot in other places, of course, they are going to go looking around at who might be the mature adult who knows how to fix things and be a leader rather than an administrator. mark: what is the argument against the no-fly zone? mr. kasich: it would be provocative. would not want to make the russians mad because they might want to fly their plane there. mark: have you met putin?

what do you think of his personality? mr. kasich: i have not, but i think he is a bully and he will push you as far as he can until you say no. mark: you got a couple of endorsements today, but how do you score a day on the trail? what makes it a good day at the -- a good day? mr. kasich: there's two ways in which i determine we have had a good day. what i see with my eyes and what i feel with my gut. mark: what have you eaten today? fruit. what else? mr. kasich: eggs. mark: how many calories? mr. kasich: i don't think about it. i don't know. mark: when will you eat next? mr. kasich: i don't know. i'm not hungry. where are we? what are doing? a townhall.

she's young. she's got years. not that you don't have ears. mark: you did a little flick at the former governor of florida. mr. kasich: they are there bragging that they are investigating me. come on. seriously? mark: do you look at other candidates' records? mr. kasich: none that i know it this point. we're certainly not going into their libraries and archives. i mean, i guess at some point we will probably do that, but it seems a little early for that. maybe not. mark: before you did that today, did you check with anybody on your team? instints?ich's mr. kasich: no, i did not check with anybody. mark: what are the hardest jobs you've had? mr. kasich: the hardest for me and i guess on any job is when -- you know, i think i am sort of born natural to be -- i mean, i think i was sort of born or

raised or whatever to be a leader, and whenever i'm in a position i cannot lead, it's really hard for me. mark: what is interesting about this process is it's almost like training to run, you know, a race. the more you do it, the more you get accustomed to it. mark: governor, thanks for taking us along with you. typical day or atypical? mr. kasich: typical. mark: this is what it's like. we will have more after this word from our sponsors. ♪

mark: our guest is a dad, a husband, governor, and of course, a deadhead. mr. kasich: i'm not a deadhead. you've got to get over that. mark: i think you kind of our. you are someone who talks about

consensus and bringing people together. we have sampled the republicans. about guns and gun safety. where is the consensus between the parties on how to deal with gun safety? mr. kasich: first of all, all these institutions need to have security plans. we are trying to push them through all our schools in ohio. sometimes, it's hard to get people to do it. there is absolute consensus. second, i do not know what this person's history is going to be, but we have to have that are reporting so that the mentally ill cannot get their hands on these guns. i think that is a consensus, too. and beds for people who have an emergency situation where family knows and can get them someplace where they are not going to kill themselves and kill some others or at least hurt themselves. mark: if you get elected president and the incidence of mass shootings is as high under your presidency as it has been under president obama, how would you characterize the degree to which your priority would be to find a way to deal with that?

mr. kasich: it's one of many issues, but we had a school shooting in ohio, but i was there for a couple of days and it was very difficult. these are unbelievable tragedies, and of course, it would be high, and the things we can do both from the mental health aspect and the ability to not have the soft situations where people have to prepare -- everybody has to understand it can happen to you. mark: you think it would be a priority for government, not necessarily gun control, but a priority for your administration to find ways to reduce those? mr. kasich: we need to let states know what really works. a lot of what we need to be doing is taking things that need -- that work in one place and transferring them, if it's violence, drugs, mentoring -- i want to shift power back to the states and let states come up with solutions that can be shared with other states.

mark: you used to be a member of the house. kevin mccarthy is running basically unopposed for speaker. mr. kasich: i don't think that's my place any more than i would pick the speaker or leader in ohio, but i think he has a good personality, and i think he is a guy who does connect and there's no doubt in my mind that i would be able to work with him as president. mark: will you put forward your proposal to submit a balance budget to congress in your first term? mr. kasich: i'm not sure how we would do that exactly, but there's no mystery in what i do. i have only written 18 budgets, which is 18 more than you have written, so people -- if they want to know what my priorities are, they just need to look at my record. we will put more meat on the

bones. mark: you are running as a guy who knows how to balance budgets. would you pledge and put forward something now to say to people, "here is one of my budgets to get to balance." mr. kasich: i don't think it's going to be done -- to be direct about it, anyone who says it can be done in four years or whatever does not know what they are talking about because it's a process. the most important thing is to have a legitimate plan that shows you how to get there over time, and that is what i would do as president. mark: could you guarantee the american people if you were president for two terms that by the end -- mr. kasich: again, i do not want to lay out specific years because i do not want to eat my words, but it's a high priority for me. if we can have a legitimate plan to get us onto a balanced budget coupled with economic growth, the economy would begin to take off. that's what i have done in ohio, but i also know any of the specifics i rollout will probably be used as a club by

someone to beat me over the head. you can do this, but you have to be smart and measured in the way you do it. you do not want to make big, bold predictions. mark: what about when someone says that undermines your credibility gap in you are running as a guy who balances budgets and said in eight years you will not have it balanced? mr. kasich: i don't make promises i can't keep. i got the budget balanced in ohio. i think what you are looking for is credibility. i think i have credibility when it comes to fiscal discipline, making hard decisions dealing with entitlement programs. i will not send you all 18, but i will send you four or five of my budgets, and you can examine them. i would be glad to talk about how we do it. you know why outsiders are doing well now? because politicians make promises and do not keep them.

i am going to commit this -- we will be on a strong fiscal discipline. we will deal with entitlements and the tax code, and we will ultimately have a roadmap that will take us to a balanced budget and begin dealing with the deficit. mark: crazy cycle. lots of candidates. can you be the republican nominee if you do not win in new hampshire? mr. kasich: whatever you predict, if i can do better than that, then i'm on a roll. mark: are you more confident you will be the next president of the united states than you were when you got in the race? mr. kasich: i feel very good about where we are. mark: where do you see yourself now? mr. kasich: rising. the interesting thing -- you can have people that will rise real high. the question is if there is anything underneath that rise in the polls that will give you the support and strength.

that's what i think we are building, particularly here. somewhat, we are beginning to build in iowa, but the key is not just to float to the top with nothing underneath. we are building from the ground up, and it's getting stronger and stronger. looking at the people that have endorsed me today, i think we are building strength and building it a little bit at a time, and that is how you do it. that's how i have done it my whole career. mark: stay with us. we're going to do something fun right after this. ♪

mark: welcome back. we're in manchester, new hampshire, with the governor of ohio. this is his headquarters opening today. the governor is going to go out and greet a throng of people. have at it. [cheers and applause] ♪

narrator: the contemporary art world is vibrant and booming as never before. it is a 21st century phenomenon. a global industry in its own right. "brilliant ideas" looks at the artists at the heart of this, artists with a unique power to astonish, challenge, and surprise. in this program, spanish sculptor jaume plensa. ♪