The future brain surgeon was Detroit's top ROTC student in 1969His best-selling book 'Gifted Hands' claimed Army General William Westmoreland met with him and offered him a West Point scholarshipCarson has claimed he turned the Army officer training academy's offer down, deciding to become a doctor insteadBut West Point has no records showing Carson ever applied or was offered a place in the student bodyEmbarrassing tale uncovered on the day he challenged Americans to decide whether he's an 'honest person' or a 'pathological liar'Presidential campaign lashed out against the newspaper that uncovered the falsehood, calling its story 'an outright Lie'For more of the latest on Ben Carson visit www.dailymail.co.uk/gopprimaryBy David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com
Published: 12:58 EST, 6 November 2015 | Updated: 21:47 EST, 6 November 2015
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Dr. Ben Carson fabricated a key detail in his bootstrap-pulling personal narrative, his presidential campaign admitted on Friday, conceding that he was never offered a 'scholarship' commission to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Politico reported that West Point has no record that Carson ever sought admission or was granted a place in the Army's main officer training academy.
But in his best-selling book 'Gifted Hands,' the Republican presidential candidate claimed – through a ghost-writer – that General William Westmoreland offered to open a door for him.
'I was offered a full scholarship to West Point' after meeting the general, he wrote.
Carson repeated the claim at least three times this year, including mentions online, in a book aimed at teens, and in a TV interview.
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GIFTED LIAR? Retired surgeon Ben Carson fabricated part of his inspirational story, writing falsely that he was offered a scholarship to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point
TOPS IN THE ROTC BUT NOT A CADET: Carson is pictured (3rd from the left) with his Reserve Officer Training Corps command staff in the 1969 yearbook of Detroit's Southwestern High School
West Point students all attend on scholarship – something a man who had been offered admission would know – serving on active duty instead of paying tuition.
In 1990 when the book was published, the claim sounded no alarm bells. Carson wrote then that he decided not to attend West Point because he didn't want to commit to four years of military service – instead preferring to become a doctor.
'I didn't refuse the scholarship outright, ' he wrote then, 'but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself going.'
'As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn't really tempted.'
Carson has repeated the story's central claim at least three times this year during his steady climb to the top ranks of White House hopefuls – and the scrutiny that status earns insurgent candidates.
'You Have a Brain,' a book he published 10 months ago to appeal to teens, includes a near-word-for-word repeat of the specious claim from 25 years earlier.
In it, he writes that he 'represented the Junior ROTC at a dinner for Congressional Medal of Honor winners, marched at the front of Detroit's Memorial Day parade as head of an ROTC contingent, and was offered a full scholarship to West Point.'
WHAT BEN CARSON HAS WRITTEN AND SAID ABOUT WEST POINT
'At the end of my twelfth grade I marched at the head of the Memorial Day parade. I felt so proud, my chest bursting with ribbons and braids of every kind. To make it more wonderful, We had important visitors that day. Two soldiers who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Viet Nam were present. More exciting to me, General William Westmoreland (very prominent in the Viet Nam war) attended with an impressive entourage. Afterward, Sgt. Hunt introduced me to General Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the Congressional Medal winners. Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.
'I didn't refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself going. As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn't really tempted. The scholarship would have obligated me to spend four years in military service after I fi nished college, precluding my chances to go on to medical school. ... Of course the offer of a full scholarship flattered me.'
– 'Gifted Hands,' 1990 book
'[I] represented the Junior ROTC at a dinner for Congressional Medal of Honor winners, marched at the front of Detroit's Memorial Day parade as head of an ROTC contingent, and was offered a full scholarship to West Point.'
– 'You Have a Brain,' January 2015 book
'The next question is from Bill. He wanted to know if it was true that I was offered a slot at West Point after high school.
'Bill, that is true. I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point. But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do. So I applied to only one school. (it was all the money I had). I applied to Yale and thank God they accep ted me. I often wonder what might have happened had they said no.'
– Facebook, August 13, 2015
'I was offered a full scholarship to West Point, got to meet General Westmoreland and go to Congressional Medal of Honor dinners. But decided really my pathway would be medicine.'
– The Charlie Rose Show, October 9, 2015
CARSON'S WORDS: The words 'I didn't refuse the scholarship' suggest that one was offered to him outright
In August during a Facebook Q&A, he answered a question from a fan named Bill who asked 'if it was true that I was offered a slot at West Point after high school.'
'Bill, that is true,' Carson wrote. 'I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point. But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do.'
Two months later on PBS, he told interviewer Al Hunt on the 'Charlie Rose' show that ''I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.'
Carson told The New York Times on Friday that his recollections of 1969 were fuzzy.
'I don't remember all the specific details,' he said. 'Because I had done so extraordinarily well you know I was told that som eone like me – they could get a scholarship to West Point. But I made it clear I was going to pursue a career in medicine.'
TAINTED: Carson's claim that he was offered a West Point scholarship originated in his 1990 book, and was repeated later in a 2015 volume aimed at teens – plus two more times this year
'It was, you know, an informal "with a record like yours we could easily get you a scholarship to West Point".'
But that is a different version from the one he has included in his personal chronicle.
Politico also highlighted that Gen Westmoreland's diaries made crystal clear that he was not in Detroit on the Memorial Day described in such detail by Carson.
Hours before the embarrassing story of Carson's truth-shading broke, he appeared in a contentious CNN interview and challenged Americans to decide if he's an honorable politician.
'The media is ruthless,' he said, following CNN reports that questioned whether he invented some of his other autobiographical claims in order to make himself appear more interesting.
'So, you know, I would say to the people of America — do you think I'm a pathological liar like CNN does? Or do you think I'm an honest person? I'm going to leave that up to the American people to make that decision.'
Carson's Twitter account – ironically called @RealBenCarson – went silent for hours after the Politico story broke about the West Point non-episode.
But Donald Trump's has not. 'WOW,' he tweeted, 'one of many lies by Ben Carson. Big story!'
When @RealBenCarson tweeted again, shortly before 7pm ET, it was to deny that he had applied to West Point - which is not the same point at all.
The account highlighted a Breitbart News story in which he was quoted as denting that he ever 'claimed Westmoreland offered him a full scholarship to West Point, and that he ever claimed he applied to West Point'.
But there was no denial of the central mis-truth - that he falsely claimed to have been offered a 'scholarship'. His 1990 and subsequent accounts did not state that he had been offered it by Gen Westmoreland.
His outbrust against CNN came after it sent a platoon of reporters to Detroit to comb through Carson's past, and couldn't find anyone who recalled two other episodes Carson has leaned on in support of his transformational story.
In one, he claimed he tried to hit his own mother with a hammer during a fit of rage. In another, it was Carson swinging a lock at a classmate's head in the seventh grade.
'The blow slammed into his forehead, and he groaned, staggering backward, blood seeping from a three-inch gash,' the book's account goes.
Daily Mail Online found more people today who questioned his account - and an aspect of his defense, that his high-school friends didn't know him before he joined the school. One friend Daily Mail Online spoke to had known him from the age of eight onwards and did not recognize his portrayal of himself.
During an interview set for broadcast Friday night on the Fox News Channel program 'The O'Reilly Factor,' Trump bashed Carson with equal gusto.
NEVER WENT THERE: Carson claimed Gen. William Westmoreland helped him secure a 'scholarship' offer from West Point, but the institution doesn't charge tuition to Americans. He says Politico falsely alleged that his original claim was that Gen Westmoreland made the offer but does not deny the key point - that he falsely cl aimed he was offered a 'scholarship' at West Point
SELDOM SILENT: Donald Trump bashed Carson for telling 'lies' on Friday
'He hit a friend in the face with a lock. He tried to kill somebody with a knife and he said he suffers from pathological disease. OK?' Trump told host Bill O'Reilly.
Carson had actually referred to his youthful violence as the product of a 'pathological temper'.
'When you suffer from pathological disease,' Trump continued, 'you're not really getting better unless you start taking lots of pills and things.'
Lying, I believe, is a grave sin, and there's just no way that I would be sitting here lying about something like this. Dr. Ben Carson, on Fox News Channel's 'The O'Reilly Factor'
'There's something very strange here, there's something very strange that's going on,' the billionaire said.
He told The Washington Post that the blockbuster story was 'the beginning of the end' for his chief GOP rival.
Carson, the former neurosurgeon, also talked to O'Reilly and defended himself against the Politico story's contentions.
'At one point,' Carson recalled, he 'was told I could easily get a scholarship to West Point and I indicated that I was going to pursue a career in medicine, but that I was very grateful and that was the end of that.'
He said in hindsight, 'I guess it could have been more clarified' in his 1990 book. 'I told it as I understood it.'
But Carson refuted the idea that he had lied about his past.
'Lying, I believe, is a grave sin,' he said, 'and there's just no way that I would be sitting here lying about something like this.'
The famed doctor has claimed prayers ultimately turned him around and formed the foundations for his success.
He may need more of them if his surging campaign sputters under the weight of questions about his integrity. His campaign aides and friendly corners of the mass media are trying to limit the damage.
'Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit,' his campaign manager Barry Bennett told Politico.
'In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can't remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson's performance as ROTC City Executive Officer.'
THE BEGINNING OF THE END? Donald Trump told Fox's Bill O'Reilly that 'there's something very strange that's going on' with Carson
PRESSURE: Carson has attracted a new level of scrutiny since his poll numbers have shot up into what had previously been Trump's exclusive territory
'He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors,' Bennett continued. 'They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.'
Carson's recollection seemed far less fuzzy in 1990 when his book - written with ghostwriter Cecil Murphey - included a detail description of what had happened on 'Memorial Day'.
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh proclaimed Friday's news an 'assassination attempt ... undertaken by the United States American media.'
an electronic lynching being conducted against the Republican African-American candidate by a majority white, mainstream American liberal media Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, describing Politico's story on Carson to his millions of listeners on Friday
'Which is horrible, it is despicable, it is infuriating,' the top-rated radio host said.
Limbaugh called the Politico story 'an electronic lynching being conducted against the Republican African-American candidate by a majority white, mainstream American liberal media.'
'Where if you're not a good liberal and a good African American on their plantation, they are going to take you out. And we are witnessing it. It is the same thing, folks, that happened to Clarence Thomas.'
But Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, who attended West Point and graduated at the top of his class in 1986, told Fox News on Friday afternoon that 'it's important that every candidate tell the truth'.
'I think Mr. Ca rson will have the chance to explain how he could possibly have said what he said,' Pompeo added.
The congressman appeared on the network's afternoon broadcast to endorse Carson rival Marco Rubio, a Florida senator.
Another presidential contender, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, told Fox's audience minutes lated that 'Dr. Carson's an accomplished man. ... This will work its way out over time.
'Can anybody deny that he's one of the most talented people you've ever met?' he asked, adding that 'the voters will determine this.'
A West Point spokeswoman told Politico that if Carson had submitted an application for a cadet commission, there would have been a paper trail.
'In 1969, those who would have completed the entire process would have received their acceptance letters from the Army Adjutant General,' Theresa Brinkerh off said.
'If he chose to pursue [the application process] then we would have records indicating such.'
PUSHBACK: Carson's campaign called a Politico report 'an outright Lie,' but the paper seems to have unraveled a mystery
It's also not clear whether Carson ever personally met Gen. Westmoreland when he claimed – around Memorial Day in 1969.
The U.S. Army's records show the Vietnam War commander and then-future Army secretary was in Washington at the time.
It's possible the meeting happened earlier that year, during a February event in Detroit that rings as similar - albeit in the absence of a Memorial Day parade - to the one described in Carson's book.
Carson campaign manager Doug Watts was apoplectic after the Politico story hit the Internet, lashing out at the newspaper for p ublishing 'an outright Lie[sic].'
'I would argue strongly that an Appointment is indeed an amazing full scholarship,' Watts said in a statement.
'Having ran [sic] several Congressional Offices [sic] I am very familiar with the Nomination [sic] process.
'Again though his Senior Commander was in touch with West Point and told Dr. Carson he could get in, Dr Carson did not seek admission. The Politico story is an outright Lie. Dr. Carson as the leading ROTC student in Detroit was told by his Commanders that he could get an Appointment to the Academy. He never said he was admitted or even applied.'
'The campaign never "admitted to anything",' Watts fumed. 'This is what we have come to expect from Politico.'
THE 2016 FIELD: WHO'S IN, WHO'S QUIT AND WHO'S STILL THINKING IT OVER
A whopping 18 people from America's two major political parties are candidates in the 2016 presidential election.
The field includes two women, an African-American and two Latinos. All but one in that group – Hillary Clinton – are Republicans.
At 15 candidates, the GOP field is without two early dropouts but still deeper than ever after one current and one former governor bowed out.
A much smaller group of three Democrats includes a former secretary of state, a former governor and a current senator.
REPUBLICANS IN THE RACE
Jeb Bush Former Florida governor
Age on Election Day: 63
Religion: Catholic
Base: Moderates
Résumé: Former Florida governor and secretary of state. Former co-chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
Education: B.A. University of Texas at Austin.
Family: Married to Columba Bush (1974), with three adult children. Noelle Bush has made news with her struggle with drug addiction, and related arrests. George P. Bush was elected Texas land commissioner in 2014. Jeb's father George H.W. Bush was the 41st President of the United States, and his brother George W. Bush was number 43.
Claim to fame: Jeb was an immensely popular governor with strong economic and jobs credentials. He is also one of just two GOP candidates who is fluent in Spanish.
Achilles heel: Bush has angered conservatives with his permissive positions on illegal immigration (saying some border-crossing is 'an act of love) and common-core education s tandards. His last name could also be a liability with voters who fear establishing a family dynasty in the White House.
Chris Christie New Jersey governor
Age on Election Day: 54
Religion: Catholic
Base: Establishment-minded conservatives
Résumé: Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder and lobbyist.
Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder. Former statehouse lobbyist.
Education: B.A. University of Delaware, Newark, J.D. Seton Hall University.
Family: Married to Mary Pat Foster (1986) with four children.
Claim to fame: Pugnacious and unapol ogetic, Christie once told a heckler to 'sit down and shut up' and brings a brash style to everything he does. That includes the post-9/11 criminal prosecutions of terror suspects that made his reputation as a hard-charger.
Achilles heel: Christie is often accused of embracing an ego-driven and needlessly abrasive style. His administration continues to operate under a 'Bridgegate' cloud: At least two aides have been indicted in an alleged scheme to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution for a mayor who refused to endorse the governor's re-election.
Carly Fiorina Former tech CEO
Age on Election Day: 62
Religion: Episcopalian
Base: Conservatives
Résumé: Former CEO of Hewett-Packard. Former group president of Lucent Techno logies. Former U.S. Senate candidate in California.
Education: B.A. Stanford University. UCLA School of Law (did not finish). M.B.A. University of Maryland. M.Sci. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Family: Married to Frank Fiorina (1985), with one adult step-daughter and another who is deceased. She has two step-grandchildren. Divorced from Todd Bartlem (1977-1984).
Claim to fame: Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, something that could provide ammunition against the Democratic Party's drive to make Hillary Clinton the first female president. She is also the only woman in the 2016 GOP field, making her the one Republican who can't be accused of sexism.
Achilles heel: Fiorina's unceremonious firing by HP's board has led to questions about her management and leadership styles. And her only political experience has been a faile d Senate bid in 2010 against Barbara Boxer.
Lindsey Graham South Carolina senator
Age on Election Day: 61
Religion: Southern Baptist
Base: Otherwise moderate war hawks
Résumé: U.S. senator. Retired Air Force Reserves colonel. Former congressman. Former South Carolina state representative.
Education: B.A. University of South Carolina. J.D. University of South Carolina Law School.
Family: Never married. Raised his sister Darline after their parents died while he was a college student and she was 13.
Claim to fame: Graham is a hawk's hawk, arguing consistently for greater intervention in the Middle East, once arguing in favor of pre-emptive military strikes against Iran. His influence was credited for pushi ng President George W. Bush to institute the 2007 military 'surge' in Iraq.
Achilles heel: Some of his critics have taken to call him 'Grahamnesty,' citing his participating in a 2013 'gang of eight' strategy to approve an Obama-favored immigration bill. He has also aroused the ire of conservative Republicans by supporting global warming legislation and voting for some of the president's judicial nominees.
Bobby Jindal Louisiana governor
Age on Election Day: 45
Religion: Catholic
Base: Social conservatives
Résumé: Governor of Louisiana. Former congressman. Former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. Former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
Education: B. Sci. Brown Universi ty. M.Litt. New College at Oxford University
Family: Married to Supriya Jolly (1997), with three children, each of whom has an Indian first name and an American middle name. Bobby Jindal's given name is Piyush.
Claim to fame: Jindal's main source of national attention has been his strident opposition to federal-level 'Common Core' education standards, which included a federal lawsuit that a judge dismissed in late March. He is also outspoken on the religious-freedom issues involved in mainstreaming gay marriage into the lives of American Christians.
Achilles heel: During his first term as governor, Jindal signed a science education law that requires schools to present alternatives to the theory of evolution, including religious creationism. His staunch defense of businesses that want to steer clear of providing services to same-sex couples at their weddings will win points among evan gelicals but alienate others.
George Pataki Former New York governor
Age on Election Day: 71
Religion: Catholic
Base: Centrists
Résumé: Former governor of New York. Former New York state senator and state assemblyman. Former mayor of Peekskill, NY.
Education: B.A. Yale University. J.D. Columbia Law School.
Family: Married to Libby Rowland (1973), with four adult children.
Claim to fame: Pataki was just the third Republican governor in New York's history, winning an improbable victory over three-term incumbent Mario Cuomo in 1994. He was known for being a rare tax-cutter in Albany and was also the sitting governor when the 9/11 terror attacks rocked New York CIty in 2001.
Ac hilles heel: While Pataki's liberal-leaning social agenda plays well in the Empire State, it won't win him any fans among the GOP's conservative base. He supports abortion rights and gay rights, and has advocated strongly in favor of government intervention to stop global warming, which right-wingers believe is overblown as a global threat.
Marco Rubio Florida senator
Age on Election Day: 45
Religion: Catholic
Base: Conservatives
Résumé: US senator, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former city commissioner of West Miami
Education: B.A. University of Florida. J.D. University of Miami School of Law.
Family: Married to Jeanette Dousdebes (1998), with two sons and two daughters. Jeanette is a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who posed for the squad's first swimsuit calendar.
Claim to fame: Rubio's personal story as the son of Cuban emigres is a powerful narrative, and helped him win his Senate seat in 2010 against a well-funded governor whom he initially trailed by 20 points.
Achilles heel: Rubio was part of a bipartisan 'gang of eight' senators who crafted an Obama-approved immigration reform bill in 2013 which never became law – a move that angered conservative Republicans. And he was criticized in 2011 for publicly telling a version of his parents' flight from Cuba that turned out to appear embellished.
Donald Trump Real estate developer
Age on Election Day: 70
Religion: Presbyterian
Base: Conservatives
Résumé: Chairman of The Trump Organization. Fixture on the Forbes 400 list of the world's richest people. Star of 'Celebrity Apprentice.'
Education: B.Sci. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Family: Married to Melania Trump (2005). Divorced from Ivana Zelníčková (1977-92) and Marla Maples(1993–99). Five grown children. Trump's father Fred Trump amassed a $400 million fortune developing real estate.
Claim to fame: Trump's niche in the 2016 campaign stems from his celebrity as a reality-show host and his enormous wealth – more than $10 billion, according to Trump. Because he can self-fund an entire presidential campaign, he is seen as less beholden to donors than other candidates. He has grabbed the attention of reporters and commentators by unapologetically staking out controversial positions and refusing to budge in the face of criticism.
Achilles heel: Trump is a political neophyte who has toyed with running for president and for governor of New York, but shied away from taking the plunge until now. His billions also have the potential to alienate large swaths of the electorate. And his Republican rivals have labeled him an ego-driven celeb and an electoral sideshow because of his all-over-the-map policy history – much of which agrees with today's Democrats – and his past enthusiasm for anti-Obama 'birtherism.'
Ben Carson Retired Physician
Age on Election Day: 65
Religion: Seventh-day Adventist
Base: Evangelicals
Résumé: Famous pediatric neurosurgeon, youngest person to head a major Johns Hopkins Hospital division. Founder of the Carson Scholars Fund, which awards scholarships to children of good character.
Education: B.A. Yale University. M.D. University of Michigan Medical School.
Family: Married to Candy Carson (1975), with three adult sons. The Carsons live in Maryland with Ben's elderly mother Sonya, who was a seminal influence on his life and development.
Claim to fame: Carson spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, railing against political correctness and condemned Obamacare – with President Obama sitting just a few feet away.
Achilles heel: Carson is inflexibly conservative, opposing gay marriage and once saying gay attachments formed in prison provided evidence that sexual orientation is a choice.
Ted Cruz Texas senator
Age on Election Day: 45
Religion: � � Southern Baptist
Base: Tea partiers
Résumé:U.S. senator. Former Texas solicitor general. Former U.S. Supreme Court clerk. Former associate deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush.
Education: B.A. Princeton University. J.D. Harvard Law School.
Family: Married to Heidi Nelson Cruz (2001), with two young daughters. His father is a preacher and he has two half-sisters.
Claim to fame: Cruz spoke on the Senate floor for more than 21 hours in September 2013 to protest the inclusion of funding for Obamacare in a federal budget bill. (The bill moved forward as written.) He has called for the complete repeal of the medical insurance overhaul law, and also for a dismantling of the Internal Revenue Service. Cruz is also outspoken about border security.
Achilles heel: Cruz's fathe r Rafael, a Texas preacher, is a tea party firebrand who has said gay marriage is a government conspiracy and called President Barack Obama a Marxist who should 'go back to Kenya.' Cruz himself also has a reputation as a take-no-prisoners Christian evangelical, which might play well in South Carolina but won't win him points in the other early primary states and could cost him momentum if he should be the GOP's presidential nominee.
Jim Gilmore Former Virginia governor
Age on Election Day: 67
Religion: United Methodist
Base: Conservatives
Résumé: Former governor and attorney general of Virginia. Former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Former U.S. Army intelligence agent. President and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation. Board member of the National Rifle Association
Education: B.A. University of Virginia.
Family: Married to Roxane Gatling Gilmore (1977), with two adult children. Mrs. GIlmore is a survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma
Claim to fame: Gilmore presided over Virginia when the 9/11 terrorists struck in 1991, guiding the state through a difficult economic downturn after one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon. He is nest known in Virginia for eliminating most of a much-maligned personal property tax on automobiles, working with a Democratic-controlled state legislature to get it passed and enacted.
Achilles heel: Gilmore is the only GOP or Democratic candidate for president who has been the chairman of his political party, giving him a rap as an 'establishment' candidate. A social-conservative crusader, he is loathed by the left for championing the state law that established 24-hour waiting periods for abortions. Gilmore also has a reputation as an indecisive campaigner, having dropped out of the 2008 presidential race in July 2007.
Mike Huckabee Former Arkansas governor
Age on Election Day: 61
Religion: Southern Baptist
Base: Evangelicals
Résumé: Former governor and lieutenant governor of Arkansas. Former Fox News Channel host. Ordained minister and author.
Education: B.A. Ouachita Baptist University. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (did not finish).
Family: Married to Janet Huckabee (1974), with three adult children. Mrs. Huckabee is a survivor of spinal cancer.
Claim to fame: 'Huck' is a political veteran and has run for president before, winning the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 and finishing second for th e GOP nomination behind John McCain. He's known as an affable Christian and succeeded in building a huge following on his weekend television program, in which he frequently sat in on the electric bass with country & western groups and other 'wholesome' musical entertainers.
Achilles heel: Huckabee may have a problem with female voters. He complained in 2014 about Obamacare's mandatory contraception coverage, saying Democrats want women to 'believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar.' He earned more scorn for hawking herbal supplements in early-2015 infomercials as a diabetes cure, something he has yet to disavow despite disagreement from medical experts.
John Kasich Ohio governor
Age on Election Day: 64
Religion: Anglican
Base: Centrists
Résumé: Governor of Ohio. Former chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee. Former Ohio congressman. Former Ohio state senator.
Education: B.A. The Ohio State University.
Family: Married to Karen Waldbillig (1997). Divorced from Mary Lee Griffith (1975-1980).
Claim to fame: Kasich was Ohio youngest-ever member of the state legislature at age 25. He's known for a compassionate and working-class sensibility that appeals to both ends of the political spectrum. In the 1990s when Newt Gingrich led a Republican revolution that took over Congress, Kasich became the chairman of the House Budget Committee – a position for a wonk's wonk who understands the nuanced intricacies of how government runs.
Achilles heel: Some of Kasich's political positions rankle conservatives, including his choice to expand Ohio's Medicare system under the Obamacare law, and his support for the much-derided 'Common Core' education standards program.
Rand Paul Kentucky senator
Age on Election Day: 53
Religion: Presbyterian
Base: Libertarians
Résumé: US senator. Board-certified ophthalmologist. Former congressional campaign manager for his father Ron Paul.
Education: Baylor University (did not finish). M.D. Duke University School of Medicine.
Family: Married to Kelley Ashby (1990), with three sons. His father is a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times but never got close to grabbing the brass ring.
Claim to fame: Paul embraces positions that are at odds with most in the GOP, including an anti-interventionist foreign policy, reduced military s pending, criminal drug sentencing reform for African-Americans and strict limits on government electronic surveillance – including a clampdown on the National Security Agency.
Achilles heel: Paul's politics are aligned with those of his father, whom mainstream GOPers saw as kooky. Both Pauls have advocated for a brand of libertarianism that forces government to stop domestic surveillance programs and limits foreign military interventions.
Rick Santorum Former Penn. senator
Age on Election Day: 58
Religion: Catholic
Base: Evangelicals
Résumé: Former US senator and former member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Former lobbyist who represented World Wrestling Entertainment.
Education: B.A. Penn State University. M.B.A. Univer sity of Pittsburgh. J.D. Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.
Family: Married to Karen Santorum (1990), with seven living children. One baby was stillborn in 1996. Another, named Isabella, is a special needs child with a genetic disorder.
Claim to fame: Santorum won the 2012 Republican Iowa Caucuses by a nose. He won by visiting all of Iowa's 99 states in a pickup truck belonging to his state campaign director, a consultant who now worls for Donald Trump.
Achilles heel: As a young lobbyist, Santorum persuaded the federal government to exempt pro wrestling from regulations governing the use of anabolic steroids. And the stridently conservative politician has attracted strong opposition from gay rights groups. One gay columnist held a contest to redefine his name, buying the 'santorum.com' domain to advertise the winning entry – which is too vulgar to print.
REPUBLICAN DROPOUTS
Rick Perry, former Texas governor
(withdrew Sept. 11, 2015)
Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor
(withdrew Sept. 21, 2015)
DEMOCRATS IN THE RACE
Hillary Clinton Former sec. of state
Age on Election Day: 69
Religion: United Methodist
Base: Liberals
Résumé:Former secretary of state. Former U.S. senator from New York. Former U.S. first lady. Former Arkansas first lady. Former law school faculty, University of Arkansas Fayetteville.
Education: B.A. Wellesley College. J.D. Yale Law School.
Family: Married to Bill Clinton (1975), the 42nd President of the United States. Their daughter Chelsea is married to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, whose mother was a 1990s one-term Pennsylvania congresswoman.
Claim to fame: Clinton was the first US first lady with a postgraduate degree and presaged Obamacare with a failed attempt at health care reform in the 1990s.
Achilles heel: A long series of financial and ethical scandals has dogged Clinton, including recent allegations that her husband and their family foundation benefited financially from decisions she made as secretary of state. Her performance surrounding the 2012 terror attack on a State Department facility in Benghazi, Libya, has been catnip for conservative Republicans. And her presidential campaign has been marked by an unwillingness to engage journalists, instead meeting with hand-picked groups of voters.
Bernie Sanders* Vermont senator
Age on Election Day: 75
Religion: Jewish
Base: Far-left progressives
Résumé:U.S. senator. Former U.S. congressman. Former mayor of Burlington, VT.
Education: B.A. University of Chicago.
Family: Married to Jane O'Meara Sanders (1988), a former president of Burlington College. He has one child from a previous relationship and is stepfather to three from Mrs. Sanders' previous marriage. His brother Larry is a Green Party politician in the UK and formerly served on the Oxfordshire County Council.
Claim to fame: Sanders is an unusually blunt, and unapologetic pol, happily promoting progressivism without hedging. He is also the longest-serving 'independent' member of Congress – neither Democrat nor Republican.< /p>
Achilles heel: Sanders describes himself as a 'democratic socialist.' At a time of huge GOP electoral gains, his far-left ideas don't poll well. He favors open borders, single-payer universal health insurance, and greater government control over media ownership.
* Sanders is running as a Democrat but has no party affiliation in the Senate.
Martin O'Malley Former Maryland governor
Age on Election Day: 53
Religion: Catholic
Base: Centrists
Résumé:Former Maryland governor. Former city councilor and mayor of Baltimore, MD. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Education: B.A. Catholic University of America. J.D. University of Maryland.
Family: Married to Katie Curran (1990) and they have four children. Curran is a district court judge in Baltimore. Her father is Maryland's attorney general. O'Malley's mother is a receptionists in the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski.
Claim to fame: O'Malley pushed for laws in Maryland legalizing same-sex marriage and giving illegal immigrants the right to pay reduced tuition rates at public universities. But he's best known for playing guitar and sung in a celtic band cammed 'O'Malley's March.'
Achilles heel: O'Malley may struggle in the Democratic primary since he endorsed Hillary Clinton eight years ago. If he prevails, he will have to run far enough to her left to be an easy target for the GOP. He showed political weakness when his hand-picked successor lost the 2014 governor's race to a Republican. But most troubling is his link with Baltimore, whose 2016 race riots have made it a nuclear subject for politicians of all stripes.
DEMOCRATIC DROPOUTS
Jim Webb, former Virginia senator
(withdrew Oct. 20, 2015)
Lincoln Chafee, former Rhode Island governor
(withdrew Oct. 23, 2015)
Source:
Ben Carson admits he made up story about getting a scholarship to West Point - and repeated it THREE TIMES this year - as key detail of his inspirational story crumbles
SAG AFTRA Foundation releases new video promoting benefits to union members. EURweb's LaRita Shelby is among those featured in the scholarship promo video. 
Duke coach David Cutcliffe has announced the signing of two football players to scholarship agreements. Defensive backs Mark Gilbert and Jacob Morgenstern plan to enroll enroll early and join the Blue Devils in January, upon completion of their high school degrees.
Good News: WGU Nevada announces veterans' scholarships 