Before you laugh, consider this: The group that put Carson on the hotel keys has outraised Clinton’s draft committee, Ready for Hillary; has been on the ground in Iowa; and is working from the playbook written by Howard Dean and Barack Obama.

It’s all the work of the National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee, which is trying to get the conservative neurosurgeon to run for president. It’s part fan club, part savvy campaign.

The case for Carson is all about math and race. Carson is African-American and his supporters think that will be his path to victory. He’s “a respected figure among black Americans,” the video explains, and if he can win just 17 percent of the black vote, it is “mathematically impossible” for a Democrat to win the White House.

Vernon Robinson, a former three-time congressional candidate and George H.W. Bush appointee, started the draft campaign with John Philip Sousa IV and others. He says Carson, who is scheduled to speak Saturday at CPAC, is the only candidate who can broaden the GOP base among minorities, while passing muster with conservative primary voters.