Ben Carson Taking Short Break After Iowa Caucuses

“I’m really leaning his way now”, said Bruce Koester, 71, of Newton, Iowa, after seeing Carson speak at Iowa Wesleyan University.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley introduced Carson as a man of courage and common sense but did not endorse him.

The retired pediatric neurosurgeon attacked President Barack Obama when he spoke at the breakfast in 2013.

Pointing to the over $18 trillion national debt and what he called unfunded liabilities, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Carson said the current administration should take responsibility for the financial decisions made and that he would work to cease providing government subsidies.

“We Americans must be proud of who we are”. “Within the space of a year and a half, I went from the bottom of the class to the top of the class”. “I always say, never guess when soon you’ll know”, Carson said.

Carson, who was at 8% in the final Iowa poll before the caucuses, is hardly the only candidate ducking out of the Hawkeye State on Monday.

Speaking to about 150 people at the University of Iowa Athletic Club, Carson described growing up poor in Detroit but loving to go to the doctor’s office where he could smell the alcohol swabs or to the hospital where he could hear doctors being paged on the intercom. The speech is widely seen as a precursor to Carson launching his White House bid last May.

He had a live interview with Republican Presidential Candidate, Dr. Ben Carson, during the newscast. Marco Rubio. A Vietnam War veteran, Koester also attended the event Trump held for veterans Thursday night in Des Moines instead of debating the other GOP candidates.