Carson Takes Steps Toward a Campaign for U.S. President

by Monte Sahlin

By AT News Team, August 6, 2014

Dr. Ben Carson, the well-known neurosurgeon who is an active member of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, has taken additional steps toward a campaign for President of the United States in 2016, according to a story in the Washington Times  last Friday (August 1). Carson has become a favorite of many politically conservative Americans.

Carson stated in an interview that he met last week in Florida with supporters and that a decision has been made about a campaign chairman. Terry Giles, a businessman from Texas, is the designated leader for the campaign, if Carson definitely decides to launch it. “Basically if Dr. Carson decides to go forward, I’ve been asked to chair the campaign and make a full commitment during the period of time leading up to a decision and during the election cycle,” Giles told the Western Journalism Center, a right-wing media operation.

Carson also reportedly approved the formation of One Nation, his political action committee. Despite these early decisions, Carson cautioned his supporters that a final decision has not been made. “Now is the time to start all of the appropriate exploration and investigation and put down the structure that is necessary,” he admitted, acknowledging that his camp is “definitely a step or two closer than we were a year ago.”

As it stands, Carson said he is more interested in making sure the Republican Party and right-wing activists are able to make big gains in upcoming midterm races. He said his PAC will be active in supporting those hopefuls who share his core values. “Obviously we are very interested in what happens in November,” he told the Times. “And if the people also continue to show strong desire for me to run, obviously that would be an important factor.”

In an historical coincidence, within days of the Times story indicating that an Adventist may run for president, private papers of the United States president with the closest ties to the Adventist faith in the past were made public this week. President Warren G. Harding, who served in the 1920s, had siblings who were Adventists, including a sister who went with her husband as a missionary for the denomination to southern Asia and a brother who founded an Adventist hospital in Columbus, Ohio.