One down, three to go? Carson's closest aide says Cruz and Rubio have no chance against Trump either after neurosurgeon drops out of the race

Ben Carson admitted he has no chance of becoming the Republican presidential nominee – but will not actually quit the race.

The retired neurosurgeon released a statement this afternoon saying that he planned to skip tomorrow night's GOP debate in Detroit as there is no 'path forward' for him in light of last night's Super Tuesday results.

He said he'll use his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference to 'discuss more about the future of this movement.'   

Carson's business manager and closest aide, Armstrong Williams, told the Associated Press: 'There's only one candidate in this 2016 election on the GOP side, and his name is [Donald] Trump.'

Williams added that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz also 'have no path' and should drop out.

But confusingly Carson is not yet expected to actually quit the race.

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No hope: Ben Carson, pictured in his adopted hometown of Baltimore last night, will tell supporters on Friday that he has no 'path forward.' He will not take part in tomorrow night's Republican debate

Ben Carson returned to Maryland last night to address supporters and seemed poised to stay in the race, but a meeting Wednesday with key aides had him changing his tune 

Personally popular: Ben Carson, with this wife Candy, could not translate his inspirational rise from working-class black Detroit to being a renowned neurosurgeon into votes, but remains popular, making his endorsement valuable

Carson, 64, performed dismally in the Super Tuesday primaries and had made little impact on recent debates, being marginalized almost completely in last week's by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump attacking each other.

He will use a scheduled speech at the CPAC, being held in just outside Washington, D.C. in Maryland to talk at length to supporters.

He issued a statement today saying that his 'grassroots movement' would continue. 

'I have decided not to attend the Fox News GOP Presidential Debate tomorrow night in Detroit,' it said.

'Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America. I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening's primary results. 

'However, this grassroots movement on behalf of 'We the People' will continue. 

'Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for President, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. 

'We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation. 

'I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America. 

'Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people. 

'I will discuss more about the future of this movement during my speech on Friday at CPAC in Washington, D.C.' 

He was the only one of the five remaining Republican candidates not to walk away from Super Tuesday with at least a second place somewhere – with John Kasich coming in second in Massachusetts and Vermont. 

And he had picked up just eight delegates in the primaries and caucuses so far, compared to frontrunner Trump's 319.

Ben Carson wasn't able to get much air time at last week's Republican debate in Houston, Texas, as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio all attacked one another 

Donald Trump (left), the party's frontrunner, has been fairly nice to Dr. Ben Carson, even saying the retired neurosurgeon wasn't getting enough time to speak at debates 

Carson's endorsement, however, will be much sought-after among the remaining candidates. 

Although he could not translate personal popularity into votes and polling numbers, his inspirational story and his breakthrough moment at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast would combine to make an endorsement a valuable asset.

Carson's own strong religious views would suggest that he would lean towards endorsing Ted Cruz but he could also be under pressure from the Republican establishment to throw his weight behind Marco Rubio, who continues to be their preferred candidate to take on Donald Trump.  

However his business manager's views are seen as having the most influence on Carson, and that could point to a Trump endorsement.

Trump himself had gone out of his way to be positive about Carson, saying after the last debate that he felt the retired neurosurgeon had been treated badly by the moderators by not getting enough airtime. 

And in a survey out this week conducted by Morning Consult, Carson beat out all the other candidates for Republican voters' top vice presidential pick, with Trump being the hypothetical nominee. 

Carson's political career could continue in another way too, as Florida Republicans are reportedly thinking about pitching Carson on a Florida Senate run, CNN reported, to fill the seat being vacated by Rubio, whose running for president instead.  

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is planning to use his appearance at CPAC this year to explain where his 'movement' goes from here 

Carson only briefly saw success in his presidential bid, but then hopes of his outsider candidacy taking hold tumbled down.

Around Halloween, Carson was polling ahead of frontrunner Trump in Iowa, where the country's first contest is held.

But as the polls peaked for the retired neurosurgeon, the media started poking holes in some of the colorful anecdotes the doctor would tell on the campaign trail.

One story - involving a young, brooding Ben Carson stabbing someone - was revised several times. Was it a close relative? A best friend? Carson changed the script, while associates of the Detroit native came forward and said they never remembered this type of anger coming from a young Ben.

Trump capitalized on it, releasing an Instagram video on Friday the 13th, which described Carson as a 'violent criminal' or a 'pathological liar.'

'We don't need either as president,' the Trump ad boasted.

Losing ground thanks to some sluggish debate performances, pronouncing Hamas like 'hummus,' the chickpea-based spread, when talking foreign policy and suggesting the pyramids in Egypt were built to store grain, Carson's 2015 holiday season consisted of a big staff shake-up.

Carson called two batches of reporters, from the Associated Press and the Washington Post, to his home unbeknownst to his campaign manager Barry Bennett.

To those reporters he hinted that he might make some changes in staffing to his campaign.

The retired neurosurgeon then immediately went on CNN and told Don Lemon that he wasn't firing anyone.

That was over Christmas.

Before the ball dropped to mark 2016 Carson's campaign announced 'enhancements,' with Bennett and Communications Director Doug Watts resigning 'effective immediately.'

More than 20 other staffers followed the duo out the door.

The campaign moved retired general Bob Dees, who was Carson's foreign policy adviser, into the role of campaign chairman.

A senior strategist for Carson, Ed Brookover, became the campaign manager.

'As we enter a new phase of the campaign cycle, it is necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision and world-view with the American people,' Carson said in the statement.

'I commend Barry Bennett and Doug Watts for their efforts to help me share my vision for America,' Carson said.

Parting words aside, NBC News sources suggested the split was, in part, because of Bennett and Watts' inability to get along with Armstrong, a longtime business adviser of the candidate.

After the shake-up the campaign, again, never gained back its footing.

When CNN reported that Carson planned to head to Florida - to pick up more clothes for the campaign trail - just a day after the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz's volunteers spread the misinformation that Carson was on the cusp of dropping out, trying to recruit his voters to choose Cruz, another evangelical favorite, on their Iowa ballot instead.

The move may have helped Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses in a somewhat surprising victory over Donald Trump, who had led there since Carson's November fall and had only been neck-and-neck with the Texas senator in recent weeks.

Ben Carson briefly was sitting at the top of the polls in  Iowa, where he's pictured here, but was quickly toppled by long-time frontrunner Donald Trump 

The gossip didn't do any favors to Carson who came in fourth.

In the next two contests, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Carson came in last.

Carson made another controversial comment last week, that President Obama was 'raised white' and didn't embody the typical black American experience, in the run-up to Nevada's caucuses.

He returned to the fourth place position in that state, though this time in a field of just five candidates, and again pledged to stay in the race.

In the run-up to Super Tuesday, he said again and again he was staying in. 

'I have millions of social media fans and they're begging me not to get out,' Carson said on Morning Joe. 

He also told a familiar tale. 

'If you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare,' Carson said during several media appearances a week ago.

'If you give up on the tortoise too early, you're only going to have the hare who is exhausted and not very effective,' he said on Fox & Friends.

Jeb Bush had used a similar line to explain to reporters his style of campaigning.

He also dropped out.