Two of Ben Carson’s top campaign aides resign

The communications guy, Doug Watts, told the Des Moines Register, “Yes, Barry Bennett and I have resigned from the Carson campaign effective immediately”.

Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts announced they were stepping down yesterday, citing frustration with the candidate’s business manager, Armstrong Williams, and questioning his readiness for the White House. Williams said that most presidential campaigns are “chaotic”, touting how Carson “remains in charge” and how he purposely has advisers outside of the campaign apparatus.

Carson, after briefly being the favorite of Iowa social conservatives, has been supplanted by Tex. That was tops among all Republicans, with only Ted Cruz among the rest of the field anywhere close to Carson.

But the meaning of those numbers had been lost as Carson struggled. The retired neurosurgeon also had finances on his side.

The retired neurosurgeon may have hit his summit in Iowa with 28 percent support in October.

Taylor said the campaign turnover was not unexpected and that Carson is actively engaged with the decision making. None of those investments were paying off as the Republican primary’s focus turned to terrorism and national security. That’s the narrative that is out there. “They’ve expressed that to me”. After all, voters are still responding to Trump’s anti-establishment rhetoric. Carson has followed the same pattern. Bennett, suspecting that Carson was once again following Williams’s advice instead of his, quit on the spot.

In good news for the campaign, though, Carson’s campaign hauled in $23 million in last quarter, which Politico describes as “likely setting the pace among Republican candidates”. Carson never faced the kind of intense attacks from his rivals or the press that Trump had to endure.

“The entire team was left wondering if they had a job”, campaign manager Barry Bennett told The Hill of the shake-up talk.

“There will be some changes made so that the campaign is more consistent with me, with the way that I am”, Mr. Carson said on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren”.

The Carson campaign later in the day said the staff changes were “enhancements”.