The retired neurosurgeon’s campaign says it has raised about $2 million since the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, a startling windfall for a campaign that finished a distant-fourth in Iowa and dead last among eight active contenders in New Hampshire.
The haul is all the more startling because the campaign has been floundering for months. Since he briefly led polls in early November, Carson has careened from one campaign crisis to another, nursing self-inflicted wounds and slashing a bloated staff while his standing in GOP primary polls has cratered.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Iowa caucus: Just as the vote was beginning, operatives and surrogates for Ted Cruz rapidly spread a false rumor that Carson would be leaving the Republican contest. They urged Carson’s backers to align with Cruz instead. Though the Texas senator has consistently blamed an ambiguous CNN report about the issue, as well as tweets from a CNN correspondent, those reports never suggested Carson would be quitting the contest.
The backlash from Carson loyalists was fierce, and the doctor’s campaign says it’s at the core of its sudden fundraising resurgence.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member