Ben Carson Vows To Keep Campaigning

Updated at 11:05 p.m.

By Deb Belt and Beth Dalbey, Patch staff

BALTIMORE, MD – Retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a brief leader in the Republican presidential field who is now viewed as a mostly forgotten “nice guy,” vowed to keep fighting at an event Tuesday night in Baltimore.

Among the March 1 Super Tuesday states, Carson came in last in Virginia, fourth in Georgia, fifth in Massachusetts, and fifth in Texas, according to preliminary results.

His campaign called his appearance a Super Tuesday Election Night Party, held at the Grand Hotel in downtown Baltimore.

During his speech, Carson hammered on the corrupt political system.

"I'm not ready to quit trying to untangle it yet," Carson said, drawing cheers from the crowd, reports The Baltimore Sun.

On Monday Carson re-affirmed his commitment to stay in the race, writing in an op-ed piece for FOX News that denounced the “blood sport” of political pundits attacking candidates.

“With every call to drop out, pundits and political operatives salivate over polling percentages -- as though the people they represent were commodities to be bought and bartered in the backrooms of D.C.’s exclusive political clubs,” Carson wrote. “This mentality is driving voters away from the political system they have so long supported.”

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Carson also asked his rivals to be civil and play nice with one another during Thursday’s GOP FOX News debate in Detroit.

In a statement, Carson said that Americans deserve more than they’re getting from candidates “seeking the most powerful position in the free world,” and that the tenor of Republican campaign is an “embarrassment on the world stage.”

With delegates from 12 states up for grabs on Super Tuesday, pundits say New York businessman Donald Trump could put a stranglehold on the GOP nomination if he sweeps today’s races. Early Tuesday evening he was declared the winner in the Georgia primary and leading in Virginia, the first two states where polls closed.

In spite of recent controversial statements on white supremacists and nasty exchanges at the most recent Republican debate, Trump continues to lead the GOP field. He had 49 percent support compared to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 16 percent and Cruz's 15 percent in a new CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday. Carson followed with 10 percent support in the poll, trailed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 6 percent.

“A house divided cannot stand, and it is imperative the Republican Party exhibit unity by the candidates coming together with a pledge to talk about the many serious problems facing our country, instead of personally attacking each other,” Carson said.

Failing that, he said, the eventual nominee may not be able to defeat the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 8 general election.

The discourse between the Republican candidates hit another low point at last week’s pre-Super Tuesday slugfest in Houston and in the days since. At the debate, billionaire businessman Donald Trump called Florida Sen. Marco Rubio “a choke artist” and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz “a liar.”

It went downhill from there, and by the time verbal free-for-all ended, Carson, mostly overlooked in the debate, interjected, “Could someone attack me, please?”

Carson said he’s confident he and the other GOP contenders can reach an agreement that “we are not going to succumb to the media’s desire for a fight on the stage in Detroit” and rise above the “sophomoric attacks of past encounters.”

Carson said he was reaching out to other candidates asking for their cooperation, but it’s unclear how they’ve responded to his call for civility in Detroit.

The Detroit debate takes place at 9 p.m. Thursday, five days before the March 8 Michigan presidential primary, at the Fox Theatre. It will be broadcast on Fox News, and online at foxnews.com.

Moderators are Bret Baier, Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly, with whom Trump has a running feud that caused him to skip a debate in Des Moines, IA, before the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses.

» Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons