As Governor of Ohio John Kasich pushed for Cleveland landing the Republican National Convention but he likely will not see the inside of Quicken Loans Arena the week of the convention.
"Probably not," said Kasich who will be in Cleveland for outside political events as well as in his role as governor but he won't be speaking at the convention or leading Ohio in the roll call of states like he did in Tampa in 2012.
"Look this convention is Donald Trump's convention and if I'm going to show up at the convention and I'm not going to be saying all these great things about the host, then I think it's inappropriate for me to kind of go in there," Kasich said. "I don't think that's the right thing to do it doesn't feel right to me inside."
"I still hold out hope that maybe we'll have a Damascus road experience," he said of a miraculous conversion for Donald Trump. "People don't know what that is but that's when Saul, the persecutor of Christians, got knocked off his donkey and became Paul and wrote 3/4's of the new testament. I'm still waiting for that Damascus road experience if it doesn't come then I probably will not find my way towards endorsing."
Kasich said he's only had the one conversation with Trump since he left the race May 4, and said it was unlikely Trump could say anything before the convention that would win Kasich's endorsement.
"As I told him when we talked we're like two companies, different values, different visions, different operations, kind of hard to merge," he said.
Kasich sent a letter in May to his delegates reminding them that they are pledged to him on the first ballot as for the 2,400 others Kasich said he has no instructions.
"Look I'm not up here to disrupt," he said. "I don't have any message for them. I mean somebody asked me what I thought about should they be bound or should they be able to vote their conscience and I said I think they should be able to vote their conscience, I mean if I were a delegate that's the way I would feel but that's a decision for them to make."
"I don't anticipate any real disruption in that convention and I'm certainly not going to be part of it," he said.
Two months after suspending his campaign Kasich is still polling well against Hillary Clinton. An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released this week showed Clinton leading Trump 41 to 38 percent. Against Mitt Romney the two were locked in a 45-45 tie. Clinton trailed House Speaker Paul Ryan 47-45 percent while Kasich held an eight point lead over Clinton 50 to 42 percent.
The results didn't phase Kasich. "It's like cool you know that I could beat Hillary but I knew that all the way along," he said.
"It's a weird thing, maybe it's because of how long I've been in politics but I have no regrets, I have no... spoiled grapes the only place I have that is on a golf course. I just am fine, I am a happy guy," he said.
Kasich will be campaigning this fall though but for those running for Congress and the U.S. Senate.
"I don't think it's healthy for the Republicans to lose the senate, if we don't win the White House then it's going to be important that we still have a voice."
As for his future Kasich said he looks for a vigorous two years ahead in the final quarter of his time as governor and as for a future run for president?
"That's like asking somebody once they finish a marathon, you know meet them at the finish line and say 'are you going to run another one?' I'm not shutting my political operation down, I'm not going to close any doors, I'm not making any final decisions so my focus now really is really ramping up this job as governor," he said.
