The field of announced Republican candidates will in all likelihood double this week from three to six as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina are expected to jump into the race.
Perhaps the most intriguing of this new batch of presidential hopefuls is former pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who is expected to throw his hat in the ring Monday in Detroit. He's considered a long-shot, but with his backstory and the fact he's unencumbered by any previous political record, Carson is definitely someone worth watching.
Here's what you need to know.
1.) Grew up poor, was a poor student and quick tempered
Benjamin Solomon Carson was raised in Detroit by his single mother. Carson's mom would make ends meet cleaning houses and other low-wage work and she was determined to make education a priority for her boys. She'd make Carson and his older brother finish two books a week and write up book reports on them. She'd mark the reports up with check marks and the like even though she herself couldn't read. She also suffered from depression and would from time-to-time check herself into a mental institution.
Carson did not start out a model student. He got poor marks early in school and some of his classmates would call him "dummy." Carson also had a quick temper, and once tried to stab someone with a camping knife during his youth. He eventually overcame his anger issues and academic challenges and graduated from Yale University and University of Michigan Medical School.
2.) Head of Pediatric Neuroscience
In 1984, when he was 33 years old, Carson became the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. At the time, he was the youngest doctor in America to hold such a position.
In 1987, Carson earned world-wide recognition when led a team that performed the first successful separation of twins, Benjamin and Patrick Binder, who were joined at the head. In all it took five months of planning, 22 hours of surgery and required a 70-person team to complete. He is also credited with the revival of a medical procedure known as a hemispherectomy, an operation where half a patient's brain is removed in order to cure certain brain diseases that cause seizures.
3.) Accomplished author and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Carson's incredible life story of growing up a poor kid in inner-city Detroit to becoming a groundbreaking neurosurgeon was documented in his autobiography Gifted Hands. He's gone on to write other books since then, including a New York Times bestseller, One Nation, in 2014.
It was Gifted Hands though that made Carson a hero, particularly among African-Americans, and was a staple for many parents and schools to assign the book as a mandatory reading. The book was eventually turned a movie and Carson was played by Academy-Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. in 2009. A year before that movie premiered, President George W. Bush honored Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It's the highest award given to a civilian. Carson was reportedly notified he was a recipient of the award while performing a seven-hour surgery.
4.) 2013 National Prayer Breakfast speech
At an event that is typically apolitical, Carson delivered a sharp critique of President Obama's tax policies and implementation of his signature health care law. While Carson never referenced the health care law or the president by name, President Obama was sitting only a few feet away. Almost instantly Carson was jeered by progressives who thought that this was inappropriate, given the setting and celebrated by conservatives who saw this as speaking truth to power. It's also seen as the moment that launched Carson's ascendency towards running for the Oval Office.
5.) Never held or run for public office
Despite never running for or holding public office, Carson remains a darling among certain segments of the conservative base, particularly those who tilt toward the Tea Party. He is one of the most sought after conservative speakers in the country. In many polls he outpaces well-established elected officials who will likely announce their own presidential bids, like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
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