“I’ve been serious about this all along, you’re just catching on,” he said.

The comments were the clearest signal yet from the Republican that he could make a play at the White House, but he admitted that he hasn’t yet decided “if it’s right” to run for president.

“The most important [question] is can I win? Is it a winnable situation?” Kasich said.

The Ohio governor still lags far behind the rest of the potential Republican presidential pack in terms of preparation — he’s done few of the early-state visits and little of the donor massaging that’s characteristic of presidential hopefuls. But he has spent part of the year barnstorming the country trying to get enough states on board to ratify a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and will visit early primary states of South Carolina and New Hampshire to test the waters later this week.