Ben Carson is set to dramatically slash the size of his campaign operation, cutting more than 50 positions overall as he looks to carry on in the 2016 race.
According to the Washington Post, Carson is making the moves after fundraising significantly dried up. Salaries are also being cut to conserve costs after the campaign grew to about 125 before his fall from grace and into the second tier.
Key campaign advisers, however, will remain, including chairman Bob Dees, campaign manager Ed Brookover, and communications aides Jason Osborne and Deana Bass, according to the Post.
“Dr. Carson is going to get his campaign lean — really lean,” Armstrong Williams told the Post. “One issue for a while has been too much infrastructure and he has decided to fully address it so that he can sustain his campaign until the convention.”
The moves come after Carson pulled in only 9.3 percent of the vote in Monday’s Iowa caucus, a state where Carson led in the polls in October, only to be dragged down after the attacks on Paris and San Bernardino and foreign policy gaffes.
The former neurosurgeon is also shifting his focus post-Iowa. With just five days until the New Hampshire primary, he’s making no significant play there. According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Carson is at 3 percent with Granite State Republicans and has no events planned there until Saturday’s debate in Manchester.
