Carson defends Iowa caucuses, but plans wider campaign

CEDAR RAPIDS — Ben Carson defended Iowa's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses as a 'very good system,' but said he's going to spend a lot of time campaigning elsewhere.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon seeking the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, said on Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press Friday that his campaign strategy involves being seen by as many potential voters as possible, 'not just in Iowa and New Hampshire.'

'The more people get a chance to actually see me, talk to me and hear from me personally, the better I do,' said Carson, who is running second to Donald Trump in many polls in Iowa and nationally.

Conversely, he added, 'The more people get to hear from the media, the worse I do, because they have a different agenda.'

That's why he would be reluctant to see the nominating process change as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has suggested. Referring to Iowa and New Hampshire, which host the first caucus and primary, respective, Priebus said earlier this week there are now 'sacred cows.'

Carson, however, likes the retail politics of the campaigns in those leadoff states where candidates are face-to-face with voters.

'Iowa and New Hampshire have broken things up in such a way that people actually get to know the candidates,' he said. 'There's a lot of people in those states who have had face time with these candidates and that is the only way that you really get to know people. If you do it the way it is in most states, they're sort of looking at television, and they don't really get to know these people.'

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon Sunday on IPTV, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and online at www.IPTV.org.