“I DO NOT SEE A POLITICAL PATH FORWARD”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 2 2016) — On Wednesday afternoon, the campaign of Dr. Benjamin Carson announced that the Republican presidential candidate will not attend Thursday night’s debate in Detroit hosted by Fox News as previously planned.
The statement reads, in its entirety:
I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit. Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America. I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results. However, this grassroots movement on behalf of “We the People” will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for President, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation.
I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America. Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.
I will discuss more about the future of this movement during my speech on Friday at CPAC in Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, Carson had suggested that the remaining Republican candidates meet before the debate and pledge to remain civil with one another on the world stage.
Also on Wednesday, The Washington Times reported via CNN that “According to a CNN report, Ben Carson will be approached by Republican elders asking him to drop out of the presidential race — with an incentive. CNN’s Dana Bash reported that the retired neurosurgeon — the only man left in the GOP race who has never finished first or second — will be encouraged Wednesday to run for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat.”
The Times additionally write “The party establishment wants at all costs to avoid a Donald Trump nomination, and it sees a smaller field of challengers as a means to that end.”
On February 29, Carson had issued a statement titled “Why I intend to stay in the GOP presidential race.”
As a quieter, more reserved candidate than the four other Republicans remaining in the race, Carson often perceived that he was overlooked during the debates.
Carson hails from Detroit, having grown up in austere circumstances and become a world-renowned neurosurgeon until his retirement approximately two years ago. In 1987, he oversaw the first successful separation of twins conjoined at the head.
Carson has received numerous awards and honorary degrees. In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President George W. Bush.
Carson’s reference to “CPAC” is to the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, MD which began on Wednesday and ends on Saturday.