Photo credit: Dave Davidson – Prezography.com
Let the tripping over candidates commence. Seriously. Now that the midterm elections are over, Iowa is about to become inundated by those seeking the Republican or Democratic Presidential nomination. I think it is safe to add Ben Carson’s name to the list. He aired a documentary in 22 states and Washington DC earlier this month which one could pretty much consider an infomercial for a future presidential campaign. Fox News saw the signals he was sending and cut him loose. This weekend he’s in Des Moines to keynote The FAMiLY Leader’s Celebrating the Family event on Saturday evening.
Iowans will get a chance to take a good look.
Carson is not a stranger to Iowa having made a few trips to my state in recent months to campaign for Congressman-Elect Rod Blum, made some book tour stops, and to speak at the Polk County Republicans annual summer fundraiser where he won the straw polls, he has also won the Linn County GOP straw poll, and over the summer won the Western Conservative Summit Presidential Straw Poll.
A Bloomberg/Des Moines Register Poll of likely Iowa Caucus goers last month showed the conservative neurosurgeon in 2nd place behind 2012 GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney who, according to his wife Ann, is not running.
As I mentioned last month, he has major grassroots game here in Iowa with county chairs in all 99 counties and a draft committee that has been a fundraising machine. There is definitely a buzz surrounding Carson among Iowa’s social conservatives. At this point, he is a potential 2016 contender who should be taken very seriously among what will probably be a very crowded Republican field.