Despite faring badly in Iowa and New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said he's staying in the race "until I win."
Appearing on Newsmax TV on Thursday, Carson also made it clear that he's not interested in serving as the vice president of the eventual GOP presidential nominee. "I'm not looking for a job," he said, according to Newsmax. This was an apparent shift in his position as he earlier stated that he would consider such a post if offered.
"You assess things on a regular basis," the retired paediatric neurosurgeon said. "I have an enormous amount of support and a lot of people saying, 'please don't drop it' — so I'm not even thinking about doing that."
Unlike New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina who have both dropped out of the race, Carson said he is determined to push through with his candidacy "given the fact that many people have sacrificed" by donating to his campaign.
"I don't accept donations from billionaires who want to influence things and special interest groups. It's just 'we the people' and 'we the people' deserve to have a voice not to be manipulated by the media," he said.
For him to even consider a vice presidential post, the eventual Republican Party standard-bearer "would have to be somebody I was philosophically aligned with — and I'd have to have some very specific things that I was supposed to do."
But he said "the likelihood of that occurring is very, very remote."
Carson vowed to improve his poll numbers ahead of the Feb. 20 South Carolina primary. He expressed confidence that he could do this by speaking directly to voters. "When people have an opportunity to actually see me and to hear me, then they realise that the portrayals from the media are completely false — and the more times I have an opportunity to make that case, the better."
In another interview also on Thursday, Carson accused top rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz of having "substantial connections to the status quo."
Speaking to The Daily Caller, Carson said Trump and Cruz both "have substantial connections to the status quo and to billionaires that want to change things — who want things done in their way."
He added: "I believe that our nation is on the brink of disaster...we can't just do what we've been doing all along. We just can't tinker around the edges. That's going to require some major changes. I'm not sure that's going to be done, quite frankly, by people who have ties with the establishment and with the special interests."
