Bennett said it didn’t matter. “He’s just so much more likable than all the other guys,” he told me. “That’s a big deal. No one’s going to vote for an abrasive asshole. People voted for Ronald Reagan because they liked him. Nobody voted for Barack Obama because of his tax plan.”…

That very quality—the calm, smiling, steady bearing—has enabled Carson to creep into first place without being perceived as a threat. And it could make him hard to dislodge. Despite questionable campaign spending, he has plenty of money. His nutty statements and snake-oil salesmanship don’t shake his followers’ faith, and the first round of questions about his trustworthiness only strengthened him in their eyes. They want to believe.

The other candidates appear to understand that attacking Carson could backfire on them. And if there’s anything Trump’s sustained success has shown, it’s that a lot of regular Republican voters don’t see any good options among the traditional, government-experienced candidates. Pundits are praising Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio for their clever debating skills; Jeb Bush’s agonizing clumsiness has turned his campaign into an angst-ridden saga. But it’s Ben Carson who is taking the lead, and unless something changes, he could be there for a while.