Ben Carson And Clinton Lead In Iowa Fundraising

Ben Carson has had a busy time interacting with the masses and addressing matters of national interest since announcing his interest for the presidency. Ben Carson also surprised his supporters last week when he posted on Facebook that if elected president, he won’t be residing at the White House.

This was in response to a question from one of his candidature supporters. The following is an excerpt from the post.

“Last question because I have to get on my flight. Melanie wants to know how I will ‘make sure political power doesn’t corrupt me.’ It seems Melanie and I look at candidates the same way.
Melanie, this may seem very strange but I don’t want to live in the White House. I don’t want to spend the next four years in a Secret Service protected bubble. Never in my life did I ever even dream about being President – this is not an ego trip. I spent my whole professional life as a doctor to some 15,000 children, many of them extremely ill. The pace was frantic. There was always one more patient. I loved every second of it. When I knew it was time for me to stop, my life’s work of helping children of course did not. I came to understand that we need a leader that cares far more about the next generation than the next election. I want nothing more than to try and save our country.”

Ben Carson was also able to get a considerable amount of donations from Iowa totaling some $43,633 from 172 contributions. He was second to Hillary Clinton, who got a total of $51,891 from 168 donations. This is according to campaign records from the Federal Election Commission, as reported by The Des Moines Register.

Jeff Kaufmann, who is the chairman of the Republican party in Iowa, stated that he was initially surprised to see Carson among the leading candidates in terms of funds raised. However, he concluded that it matched his observation about Ben Carson’s campaign.

“I knew his ground game was second to none, and I know he has energy and enthusiasm among his supporters… I think Ben Carson is going to compete. I think he’s got the trifecta in terms of what it takes to win a caucus: network, enthusiasm and some dollars.”

[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]