RedStaters wonder: Where’s Ben Carson?

As candidate after candidate took the stage at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Hotel this weekend, the question began to percolate in the audience: Where was Dr. Carson?

A RedState attendee first asked Erickson about Carson’s absence in a public setting on Thursday during a question and answer event before the first nationally televised GOP presidential debate on Fox News.

“Wasn’t invited; next question,” Erickson said, as his abrupt response changed the celebratory mood of the RedState watch party.

He waited until just before delivering his closing remarks on Saturday evening to provide a full explanation of why he fiercely declined to invite the retired neurosurgeon running for president.

“I was at two different events for military non-profits in the last year,” Erickson began. “They were non-profits that had asked Dr. Carson to speak about military veterans and the work he did with the disabled and both times he spent the entire time talking about himself and his battle with the president and it just struck me wrong. And when we were putting together a list of RedState speakers we had a limited selection and I chose not to put Dr. Carson on the list unless the other spots didn’t fill up. The other spots filled up so I didn’t ask him. I was impressed with his debate performance the other night and his closing statement but I just, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Here’s someone that’s supposed to speak on disabled veterans, [speaking] on himself so that’s why I didn’t do it.”

Carson, however, had long ago decided to campaign in Iowa this weekend when the Iowa Straw Poll remained on the calendar. Deana Bass, Carson’s spokeswoman, told the Washington Examiner that Carson had no intention of leaving the state just because the Hawkeye State cancelled its straw poll.

“Dr. Carson cares much more about spending time with Americans and voters than the political class,” Bass said. “When we saw that the straw poll was probably not going to happen, we knew that we wanted to do something here.”

Erickson has taken credit for helping destroy the straw poll and previously told the Washington Examiner that he wanted “Killed the Iowa Straw Poll” engraved on his tombstone. By contrast, Carson will need to rely on the conservative grassroots support — often present at past straw polls — to succeed in Iowa. His staff said he drew a crowd of more than 1,000 people in Cedar Rapids this weekend, and approximately 2,300 in Des Moines on Saturday night.

Bass said she found Erickson’s comments on Saturday about Carson’s interaction with veterans confusing.

“I don’t know quite what he’s talking about,” Bass said. “Dr. Carson has a great support for veterans and veterans support Dr. Carson’s candidacy, so there is no doubt about Dr. Carson’s support for the military and for veterans. So I really don’t understand what that means, what those comments mean.”

The different opinions about Iowa’s value to the presidential nominating process may not have fueled Erickson’s animosity toward Carson.

Whether Erickson’s dissatisfaction with Carson will influence the hundreds of conservative activists gathered in Georgia to reject Carson is hard to ascertain. A few Carson supporters roamed this weekend’s RedState Gathering despite the doctor’s absence, and were impressed by Carson’s performance in the debate. Bud Hallman, a first time attendee, told the Examiner on Thursday that he appreciated Carson’s calm approach to the issues.

Carson’s mellow attitude on the presidential campaign trail has not garnered him attention from national media that other political novices, such as Trump and Carly Fiorina, have managed to ascertain. Erickson’s conflict with Carson failed to register a blip on the national media’s radar. But that’s just the way the mild-mannered Carson seems to like it.