Will Ben Carson Drop Out After The Nevada Caucus? He Can't Make It Much Longer

On Saturday night, the South Carolina Republican primary went, well, basically exactly like everyone expected it to ― Donald Trump, who'd been polling in the lead for months, sealed the deal with a double-digit margin of victory, leaving Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz behind in a near-tie for much of the night (although Rubio eked out the second place finish). So, what about the dead-end also-rans? In particular, the one who finished dead last ― will Ben Carson drop out of the race?

It's been a rough road for Carson, especially after his brief flirtation with contender status last year. And now, with the genuine contenders in the field clearly winnowed to just Trump, Rubio, and Cruz, and coming hot on the heels of a sixth-place finish in South Carolina, it's a pretty reasonable question. While John Kasich appears to be staying in after his fifth-place finish, Jeb Bush immediately ended his campaign after the final results rolled in, leaving Carson the last of five candidates, with no evident potential for growth or another surge in the polls up his sleeve.

And yet, and yet. Despite having quite literally every reason to end his candidacy, from the sounds of things, Carson is staying in the saddle for at least one more rodeo. In his speech following the disappointing finish in the Palmetto State, he told his supporters that "this is only the beginning."

For the record, Carson has finished fourth out of 11 in Iowa, eighth out of eight in New Hampshire, and now sixth out of six in South Carolina. While it's open to debate whether Carson actually believed what he said, if he did, it can only be called delusional ― no Republican candidate has ever won the nomination after losing those three races to start And after practically sleepwalking through a staggering nine debates, including some excruciatingly awkward answers (and one excruciatingly flubbed entrance), it's as plain as day: Ben Carson not only can't win, there isn't even a feasible strategy for him to gain ground. His quiver, so to speak, is all out of arrows. The goose is cooked. The cake is baked.

Which is why it's probably causing a bit of teeth-gnashing around the RNC that he seems determined to stay in the race, through Nevada at least. According to reporter Jamie Dupree, not only did Carson seem to talk up his potential following the last-place finish, he also released a full slate of campaign events clear through the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday. Obviously, he's not exactly blowing the doors off with his levels of support ― he finished at just 7.2 percent on Saturday night ― but even that meager share of support could be put to much better use somewhere else, if the party is to have any hope of avoiding presidential nominee Donald Trump.

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Thousands protest NYPD officer's conviction

Former NYPD Officer Peter Liang when the verdict was read at his manslaughter trial this month.

(CNN)Thousands rallied in cities across the nation Saturday in support of a rookie New York police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in what the protesters said was a tragic accident.

The officer, Peter Liang, 28, was found guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct earlier this month in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, 28. He was immediately fired after the highly unusual conviction of a cop for the shooting death of a civilian. He faces a sentence of up to 15 years.

A group calling itself the Coalition of Justice for Liang on Saturday staged rallies from Boston to Los Angeles, with supporters claiming the officer was subjected to "selective prosecution." The group said about 100,000 people took part in 30 cities.

Protesters carried signs with messages such as "Justice not politics," "One Tragedy, Two Victims," and "Equal Justice, No scapegoating."

Akai Gurley, who was unarmed, was killed by rookie New York Police Officer Peter Liang in 2014.

In San Francisco, protester Amy Matecki said, "Peter Liang's incident brought the Chinese community together. We want to speak up. One voice, united together. Life matters, justice for all. No scapegoat."

"He was singled out as a victim for some political reasons," said Min Yan, a physician in Oakland.

During closing arguments at Liang's trial, the officer's lawyer called the fatal shooting tragic but not a crime, stressing that Liang followed procedures. Police had described Gurley was "a total innocent."

"What happened here is a tragedy," defense attorney Rae Koshetz said. "It's a terrible tragedy, but it's not a crime."

Prosecutors argued that Liang showed poor judgment.

Liang took the stand at trial and lost his composure when asked to recount what happened in the stairwell that night.

"I was panicking. I was in shock, in disbelief that someone was actually hit," he said.

Gurley's death occurred a few months after Eric Garner died as police tried to arrest him on Staten Island. The chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed 43-year-old man, sparked street protests, a review of police procedures and calls for a federal civil rights investigation. A grand jury declined to prosecute the officer.

CNN's Laura Ly, Lydia O'Neal, Greg Botelho, Ryan Young and Vivian Kuo contributed to this story.

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