Ben Carson talks of 'leaving' GOP. Big threat to party?
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Ben Carson on Friday threatened to bolt the Republican Party amid reports that GOP leaders discussed strategy for a brokered convention at a D.C. dinner earlier this week.
Mr. Carson appeared concerned that the meeting was the beginning of an establishment effort to block outsider candidates from the nomination if primaries do not produce a clear winner.
鈥淚f this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party,鈥 said Carson in a statement, referring to Mr. Trump鈥檚 threat to run as an independent if he鈥檚 treated 鈥渦nfairly.鈥
According to The Washington Post, a group of about 20 GOP insiders 鈥 including RNC chief Reince Priebus and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell 鈥 met Monday for dinner at a restaurant near the US Capitol. The prospect of a deadlocked convention where Trump controlled a significant number of delegates 鈥渄ominated鈥 the conversation, .
But other attendees characterized the discussion as less a Stop Trump meeting than prudent planning for a deadlock that might actually occur. With Trump maintaining a steady 20 to 30 percent in national polls and at least two or three other contenders positioned for a long run, the prospect of no one emerging from the primary process with a majority of delegates remains real, in this view.
鈥淩eal鈥 is not the same as 鈥渓ikely,鈥 however. The harsh winnowing process of losing primary votes has yet to begin. By March the most probable scenario is that only two candidates, or two contenders with a third lagging behind, will remain. A clear winner should emerge from such a scrum.
鈥淏rokered convention story has swallowed my day,鈥 tweeted Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia鈥檚 Center for Politics on Friday. 鈥淪cenario gets attention every cycle, then doesn鈥檛 happen. Probably won鈥檛 in 鈥16 either.鈥
As for Carson鈥檚 reaction, GOP officials maintained that the retired neurosurgeon had simply misread the situation.
RNC spokesman Sean Spicer, appearing on CNN, said the flap was 鈥渟illy鈥 and that 鈥渨e鈥檒l have a great convention. It鈥檒l all work out.鈥
A Carson third-party bid would be a major obstacle to Republican victory in November 2016.
Carson鈥檚 poll numbers are falling and his campaign is going through a period of disarray. His close friend and business associate Armstrong Williams has that campaign officials have done a poor job helping Carson prepare for speeches and other public events.
But Carson, like Trump, has a committed core of supporters. The ex-surgeon is popular with evangelicals, home schoolers, and self-described very conservative voters. And in an America where presidential voting is almost evenly split between the two parties, even a few percentage points shaved off Republican support in key states could tip the balance of national power.