March 2, 2016

Ben Carson Sees No “Path Forward” to the GOP Nomination

Mark Humphrey/AP

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After briefly taking the lead in the Republican primary race in the fall, Ben Carson’s campaign is basically over. He is currently in last place in the GOP primary. On Wednesday, the neurosurgeon sent a statement to supporters informing them that he sees no “path forward” to the nomination and that he will not attend Thursday night’s GOP debate.

So he’s dropping out, right? That is actually unclear. As the Washington Post put it:

Carson, however, will not formally suspend his campaign. Instead, the Republicans said, he has decided to make a speech about his political future on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, just outside of Washington.

Carson is scheduled to speak at CPAC on Friday afternoon.

Here’s Carson’s full message to his supporters:

As one of my most dedicated supporters, I wanted you to hear this directly from me.

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 interest 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.

Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Ben Carson

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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