In presidential politics, rare is the Shermanesque statement.
A prospect might front-load the answer to a question about his or her ambitions by saying how much they're not interested, but "not interested" and "not running" are not the same thing. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman set the standard in the 1880s, promising that, if nominated, he would not accept; if elected, he would not serve.
These days even unequivocal statements can be abandoned with little consequence. A rookie U.S. senator by the name of Barack Obama told a "Meet the Press" audience in January 2006 that he would not be a candidate for president in 2008.
Whatever happened to that guy?
With that in mind, and with our series "John Kasich 5.0" reaching its conclusion today, here are eight of John Kasich's answers to questions about his White House ambitions. Four came from the years and months leading up to his failed bid for president during the 2000 cycle. (Kasich actually never made it out of 1999.) The other four are from Kasich's last 18 months as governor of Ohio, made amid speculation he might seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
You'll see with one or two exceptions that we've selected Kasich at his most coy. This is to show that, even in the 1990s, when he eventually threw his hat in the ring, Kasich was known to demur. And many times he leaves himself some wiggle room.
If you're parsing along at home, see if you can guess when Kasich uttered the words – before his short-lived Kasich 2000 effort or in the build-up to 2016? Afterward, for full context of each utterance, see my post in the comments section.