Ben Carson praises 'refreshing' Trump before debate saying 'he's popular because he speaks his mind' – but 'brain surgery is much more difficult' than debating
- Carson, the lone black candidate among Republican presidential hopefuls has a large enough following to qualify for Thursday's prime-time debate
- Trump 'doesn't seem to care very much about what people think' about his brash approach, 'and that's kind of a refreshing thing,' he told reporters
- The legendary pediatric neurosurgeon added that 'brain surgery is much more difficult' than debating politicians
Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson offered words of praise on Thursday for Donald Trump, his party's front-runner, just hours before the first primary debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
'He's popular because he speaks his mind,' Carson told reporters backstage at Quicken Loans Arena, on a set erected by debate co-sponsor Facebook.
And Trump , he added, 'doesn't seem to care very much about what people think about it.'
'And that's kind of a refreshing thing.'
But he refused to be minimized as anyone's foil or as a mere piñata-swinger.
'I don't really look at people in terms of challenges,' Carson said when asked who his most daunting opponent would be Thursday night. 'I look more in terms of where do I want to go.'
Scroll down for video
READY TO RUMBLE: Dr. Ben Carson says front-runner Donald Trump's caution-to-the-wind approach to politics is 'refreshing' but he's holding his own among the GOP in fifth place nationally
HONEY BADGER: Trump 'doesn't seem to care very much about what people think' about his brash style, says Carson
Carson's rise to prominence isn't a first for a black man in the GOP. Former diplomat Alan Keyes ran for president in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008. Pizza magnate Herman Cain tried his luck in 2012.
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote at the Republicans' national convention in 1844, and repeated the performance four decades later.
But seven years into the Barack Obama presidency, the idea of an African-American Republican winning the Oval Office is no longer greeted with eye-rolls.
And he's currently ranked fifth in an average of national GOP polls.
'The Republican Party has a tendency to look more at the message than the messenger, and that is a very good thing,' Carson told DailyMail.com in response to a question about whether his race would play a factor in the nominating process.
The mild-mannered Carson arrived looking cool, calm and collected, pushing his vision of a Republican clean sweep in the 2016 White House sweepstakes.
'I think we ought to be trying to carry all 50 states,' he said without any indication that he might be overreaching, pledging to take 'real common-sense solutions' to ordinary Americans.
TRAILBLAZER? FOrmer diplomat Alan Keyes (center) finished third in the 2000 Republican nomination fight after debating Sen. John McCain (left) and future president George W. Bush (right) in prime time
CENTURIES APART: The Republicans were the original American abolitionists, bringing us Abraham Lincoln and onetime presidential candidate Frederick Douglass (left). At right is Herman Cain, the Godfathers Pizza CEO wh ohas a few weeks at the top during the 2012 campaign
'It seems like that has vacated the premises in Washington, D.C.,' Carson said. 'And as I travel aroudn the country, I find that most of those people actually do think in a logical way. We just need to resonate with them.'
Carson has been to Cleveland numerous times, mostly to visit the famed Cleveland Clinic in conjunction with his medical career.
He left reporters with the impression that going toe-to-toe with eight practised politicians and one fire-breathing billionaire would be, comparatively, a walk in the park.
'Brain surgery is much more difficult,' he said.
- Shocking moment Northern California cop pulls gun on man
- Harrowing moment police officer shot dead unarmed black man
- MTV star Chanel West Coast arrested for fight at LA hotspot
- Kelly Osbourne backpedals after off-colored comment on Trump
- 'He's going to jump in the boat!' Shark leaps out of the...
- 'Granny Ripper' filmed 'carrying dismembered body parts'
- Real life Popeye talks about life with HUGE arms and hands
- Shocking footage shows Miss Bumbum squeezing puss out of her...
- Alaskan woman attacked by bear while jogging with colleague
- Two men took who synthetic marijuana turned dangerous
- Video shows the drift of debris from MH370 to Reunion Island
- Kansas town mourns bat boy with 'infectious spirit'
- ISIS executes 19 girls for refusing to have sex with...
- National Enquirer runs DEATHBED photo of Bobbi Kristina in a...
- Tom Brady's diva demands: How millionaire quarterback moaned...
- The nightmare aftermath of Hiroshima: Parents carry burned...
- Pictured: Brave jogger, 20, who fought off a bear with...
- Shocking moment Northern California officer pulls gun on man...
- Couples having LESS sex... for fear it'll be a let down:...
- EXCLUSIVE - Miss Bumbum model who nearly died from botched...
- Female software engineer slammed for being 'too pretty' and...
- Well blow me down! Real life Popeye is arm-wrestling contest...
- Sandra Lee 'fears unknown complication that hospitalized her...
- Family 'humiliated' after being barred from bringing...