HAMPTON, N.H. - Sometimes, it's the little things presidential candidates say along the campaign trail that come back to haunt them. As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders bicker over how to fund their plans for paid maternity leave, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was asked during a town-hall meeting on Friday where he stood.

HAMPTON, N.H. - Sometimes, it's the little things presidential candidates say along the campaign trail that come back to haunt them.

As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders bicker over how to fund their plans for paid maternity leave, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was asked during a town-hall meeting on Friday where he stood.

His answer was that women shouldn't be given additional paid leave but should get the chance to telecommute so they can stay competitive in their careers.

"The one thing we need to do for working women is to give them the flexibility to be able to work at home online," Kasich told the man who asked the question. "The reason why that's important is, when women take maternity leave or time to be with the children, then what happens is they fall behind on the experience level, which means that the pay becomes a differential.

"And we need to accommodate women who want to be at home, having a healthy baby and in fact being involved, however many years they want to take care of the family."

The fact that such a discussion about work-life issues is even taking place among major presidential candidates shows how America has changed, presenting what might be new hot-button issues in the 2016 campaign for the Oval Office.

About a third of women are employed at work sites that offer paid maternity leave to all or most female employees (21.6 percent for all employees, 13.5 percent for most employees), according to the 2012Family and Medical Leave Act Technical Report.

Virtually every other developed nation offers paid leave, often for several months. In the U.S., workers at companies that employ at least 50 are entitled only to unpaid leave - although some corporations voluntarily offer several weeks of paid time off, and California requires it.

Kasich's response not only falls short of what the Democratic presidential candidates are offering, it also doesn't match the proposal of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Both Clinton, the former secretary of state, and Sanders, senator from Vermont, want to guarantee 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, not just maternity leave. Their tussle is primarily over how to pay for it.

Rubio espouses a 25 percent nonrefundable tax credit for businesses that voluntarily offer at least four weeks of paid family leave, limited to 12 weeks of leave and $4,000 per employee each year. His plan would apply to new parents; caretakers of sick parents, spouses and children; employees with serious illnesses; and military families.

Like Kasich, most Republican presidential candidates oppose paid maternity leave because it adds costs for employers. Immediately after Kasich gave his answer at the town hall, a small-business man stood up to say that he couldn't afford to have one staffer off work for an extended period.

Instead of a government mandate, Kasich said, it should be "up to employers to try to be creative about this."

"We need to give the tools for women to be able to continue to develop their experience so that we don't continue with differentials between a man and a woman in the workplace."

At a later town-hall meeting in Exeter, Kasich said in response to another question that he didn't know whether he favored mandatory paid sick leave.

Such issues could become even more politically important if the fight to become the GOP champion who takes on Donald Trump comes down to Kasich and Rubio.

Two new polls of New Hampshire voters were released on Friday. One, using an auto-dial technique that generally is held in low regard by polling experts, put Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a virtual tie for second at about 12 percent, behind Trump's 32 percent. Rubio was sixth at about 9 percent.

Fox News conducted the other survey, using the standard random live calls of cellphones and landlines. That poll showed Kasich fifth, with 7 percent, behind Trump's 33 percent and Rubio's 15 percent.

The latter poll keeps Kasich in sight of the prime-time stage for the next GOP debate, which is on Thursday in South Carolina. He must do well in New Hampshire polls released through Monday or risk banishment for the first time to the undercard debate.

After the debate, Kasich will return to New Hampshire. He is scheduled to become the first 2016 presidential candidate to visit Dixville, the community in the state's far northern reaches where voters traditionally cast the nation's first ballots shortly after midnight on Election Day.

Other highlights from the last of three days on the trail in the Granite State:

• Kasich said he will propose three-year community colleges for Ohio, adding to the traditional two-year programs.

• In dealing with North Korea, Kasich said "regime change" is always a possibility. "What do we do to try to foster that?" he wondered.

• He got some of the larger crowds of his recent campaign on Friday, with roughly 125 at Hampton and 150 in Exeter.

Dispatch Assistant Public Affairs Editor Michelle Everhart and Washington Bureau Chief Jack Torry contributed to this story.

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland