U.S. Republican Ben Carson's campaign manager, 20 staff quit
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Ben Carson's 2016 presidential bid was thrown into chaos on Thursday when his campaign manager and some 20 other staff members quit amid infighting, dropping poll numbers and negative media coverage.
Barry Bennett, who oversaw Carson's rapid rise to the top tier of Republican contenders and his later fall, said he quit over differences with another top adviser to Carson, Armstrong Williams.
Specifically, Bennett blamed Williams for an interview Carson gave last week to The Washington Post suggesting that the campaign was in disarray. "It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen a candidate do," Bennett said.
Things had "boiled over" with Williams, Bennett told Reuters. "For the past seven weeks, I've been doing nothing but putting out Armstrong Williams-started fires," Bennett said.
He also charged Williams was behind a story in The New York Times that suggested Carson was out of his depth on foreign policy.
Carson's communications director, Doug Watts, also resigned due to differences with Williams, Bennett said. Some 20 staff in total left, he said. Among them was deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen.
Williams, a political commentator who holds no official role with the campaign, said he was "shocked" by Bennett's criticism. "They're giving me a lot more credit than I deserve," he told Reuters.
He suggested Bennett and Watts left the campaign rather than be fired. "Right now, they're upset and they need a scapegoat, and I'm the scapegoat," Williams said.
Support for Carson has fallen ahead of the first contest - on Feb. 1 in the state of Iowa - for the Republican nomination in the Nov. 8 election.
The retired neurosurgeon now places fourth in many national opinion polls after surging into the second slot behind the front-runner, real estate mogul Donald Trump, in the autumn.
With the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, elevating national security concerns among voters, Carson has been criticized by rivals for his lack of foreign policy experience. He has never held elected office.
Craig Robinson, former political director for Iowa's Republican Party, said Carson's lack of visibility in Iowa damaged him even though he had the chance to capitalize on his much-touted status as a political outsider.
"All along, I've never really thought this was a serious presidential campaign in that it is actually operating and doing things to get elected," Robinson said.
In spite of the poll numbers, Carson's campaign on Wednesday announced a fourth-quarter fundraising haul of about $23 million, and Bennett said Carson remained in a strong position.
"He's got millions of dollars on hand," Bennett said. "He should be able to do something with that."
Carson's campaign announced that Bob Dees, a retired Army major general, would be the campaign chairman while Ed Brookover, formerly a senior strategist, would serve as campaign manager.
Things had "boiled over" with Williams, Bennett told Reuters. "For the past seven weeks, I've been doing nothing but putting out Armstrong Williams-started fires," Bennett said.
He also charged Williams was behind a story in The New York Times that suggested Carson was out of his depth on foreign policy.
Carson's communications director, Doug Watts, also resigned due to differences with Williams, Bennett said. Some 20 staff in total left, he said. Among them was deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen.
I noticed that they tried to leave with some dignity but Williams seemed to open up attack lines on them. They fired back.
Carson showed very poor judgment in listening to Williams rather than the campaign pros who got him as far as they did. They also built quite a Facebook operation apparently.
In spite of the poll numbers, Carson's campaign on Wednesday announced a fourth-quarter fundraising haul of about $23 million, and Bennett said Carson remained in a strong position.
Carson has already spent about two-thirds of that $23M so he probably has less than $10M on hand. He's already hit up his base of small donors many times and, with his falling poll numbers and weak debate performances, won't get much more from them. AFAIK, Carson doesn't have any sugar daddy tycoons like Cruz or Rubio or Bush to keep throwing money at him.
I've read many times that Carson's entire campaign seemed like nothing more than an operation to raise funds from small donors and via Facebook, not to actually campaign or win anything. Like Carson had no idea of retail politics, probably because he doesn't.
The blood is in the water. Where will his remaining supporters end up on caucus night? Chances are good they will end up with Cruz but I expect to see others make a play for them (Huckster, Santorum, as well as the GOPe candidates).
