Carson confident he'll reclaim lead

CEDAR RAPIDS — Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson, who has seen his poll numbers decline in recent weeks, wouldn't make predictions about where he'll place in the Iowa caucuses.

But in the interview Thursday morning with The Gazette's Editorial Board, he said he will spend 16 days in Iowa before the Feb. 1 caucuses and is confident he will win back support that once made him the front-runner.

'Word-of-mouth,' he said, explaining that people coming to his campaign events in Iowa this week have been saying that 'I'm back.'

Carson is hopeful that as caucusgoers get serious about making a decision 'they will actually start listening to the candidates, start listening to the common-sensical solutions.'

Part of his appeal, Carson said, is that he's not a highly partisan person.

'I don't talk about a lot of stuff that's Democrat or Republican,' Carson said. 'I'm talking about the stuff that will hopefully save America, that will save the American dream for the next generation.'

Carson said he doesn't share concerns expressed by his former campaign adviser, Barry Bennett, that it's hard to see how Donald Trump won't be the GOP nominee.

'It's not about me and the other Republicans stopping him,' Carson said. 'It's about the people, about the people making an assessment about what is going to be best for their children and grandchildren and this country. I believe they will do the right thing. I believe, quite frankly, on the day after the Iowa caucuses all you guys will be scratching your heads and asking 'What the heck just happened?' '

Carson later spoke to a packed room of students, parents and supporters at the Isaac Newton Christian Academy in Cedar Rapids, dismissing claims from naysayers that a soft-spoken doctor with no political experience couldn't win the nation's highest office or lead on national security.

'It's not a matter of being too nice or too soft. It's a matter of being able to understand what makes sense and what does not make sense,' Carson said — noting that it's his lack of political experience that makes him the best candidate.

'There are some who say only those with political experience know how to do this, and there are those like me who say it's those with political experience who got us into this. I don't think it requires political experience to have wisdom, to know how to solve problems and do things right.'

One of the challenges the next president will face, likely, is countering the Islamic State and other terrorist threats. Carson said the best strategy is to 'destroy' the Islamic State while uniting the United States and abandoning divisive ideologies, such as what he calls nonexistent wars on race, women and religion.

' ... We are divided at the same time the jihadists are trying to destroy us,' Carson said. 'We have to fight radical Islamic jihadists who want to destroy us. They want to destroy our country. They want to destroy our future.'