Kasich tries to tap into bipartisan spirit

DES MOINES - A persistent rain shower forced John Kasich's remarks inside to a more intimate venue, and he pleaded with the dozens who packed in to work together, including across political lines, to make the country and world a better place.

Kasich, a Republican presidential candidate and the governor of Ohio, made his plea Tuesday at The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox series at the State Fair.

After a brief introduction and description of his background, Kasich talked extensively about the need for Americans to work together to solve issues, both domestic and foreign.

Framing his comments around news that the Middle East terrorist group ISIS has been enslaving teenage girls and selling them as sex slaves and that U.S. citizens are signing up to join the terrorist group, Kasich implored those in Tuesday's crowd to do what they can to make the country and the world a better place and not wait for someone else, including the government.

'Everybody coming up on this soapbox, they want to run for president. OK, we need to have a strong leader. It's absolutely vital that we can have somebody who can set the tone and bring us together,” Kasich said. 'But you don't think, do you, that that's the answer? The answer is in this room. The answer is back in my hometown of McKees Rocks. The answer is from one part of this country to the other, from one ocean to the other, from one border to the other.

'It's about us. It's about citizenship. It's about believing that we are the glue that holds America together, not somebody else.”

Kasich also called for the destruction of ISIS, saying the terrorist group is not just a national security threat, but a group that wants 'to destroy our way of life.”

'We're either going to do it now, or it's going to cost us later,” he said.

Kasich spoke about the need to work across political lines to achieve reform. Saying the Republican Party has always been his 'vehicle” but never his 'master,” Kasich said bipartisan work will be required to tackle issues such as immigration, the debt and entitlement reform.

'There is too much anger in America today, too much division,” Kasich said, encouraging people to be empathetic toward others and put themselves 'in somebody else's shoes and understanding how difficult their life can be.”

'You want to fix the fence? You want to deal with immigration? You want to balance a budget? You want to deal with entitlements? You want to do any of those things, you have to do it as a team. One party can't do it all,” Kasich said. 'This is not a game we play in public life. The purpose of it is to give people an opportunity to be lifted.”

Kasich's remarks impressed John Whalen, a Republican voter from Bloomington, Ill. Whalen said he is undecided on a 2016 candidate but Kasich's remarks had a lot of 'common sense.”

'He seems like a charismatic guy,” Whalen said. 'I probably have a higher opinion of him than I do a lot of the other candidates. He seems pretty authentic.”