Susan Page

USA TODAY

DES MOINES — Last fall, Dr. Ben Carson was the unlikely leader of the Republican presidential field nationally and in Iowa, but five days before the Hawkeye State's opening caucuses he is struggling to score a strong enough finish to stay in the race.

For that, he blames unfair and inaccurate news coverage — and Donald Trump.

"He was very dishonest," the retired pediatric neurosurgeon told a breakfast with reporters hosted by Bloomberg Politics. Trump's mocking attacks on Carson's character and life story say "that he acts like a politician, and politicians do things that are politically expedient. They don't do things that are right."

Now Carson predicts he's on the verge of a comeback that will defy the conventional wisdom that has counted him out. "My gut tells me there is major churning going on and a lot of change is going to occur during these last few days," he said. He's released a plan on how he would battle the self-proclaimed Islamic State and wants to focus in Thursday's debate on "radical Islam," the economy, and "the divisiveness in our society."

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But in an hour-long session with reporters, Carson acknowledged that he had lost ground since the heady days last October when a third of likely Iowa caucusgoers were backing him. Now he's dropped to fourth place and single digits, at 7.2% in the RealClearPolitics average of recent statewide polls.

The strength of evangelical Christians in Iowa's GOP makes the state friendly territory for Carson and the place he needs to make his stand. He's a distant ninth in New Hampshire, which holds the next contest on Feb. 9.

He said his decline in the polls wasn't due to the month-long publicity tour he did for his new book, A More Perfect Union, that took him away from campaigning in the key early states.

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"I think maybe the bigger problem was all the unprecedented attacks on my character and my honesty," he said. He cited news reports that raised questions about the details of anecdotes he had long told from his life, including a violent confrontation with a friend that he credits with helping turn his life around.

"This thing about the knife, that's not true, they go back to the high school and talk to people who knew me after that," leading to stories that said no evidence could be found to back up his version of events. "What a bunch of crap."

"On and on it goes," he said. "That level of dishonesty in the press should be something that concerns all of you guys."

Carson says he would like to finish among the top three in Iowa. If he doesn't, is there a path for him to continue his campaign?

"There's always a path, but you always have to look at the trends," he said. "You have to look at what is happening, what are people saying?" That is something he will do, he said, no matter where he finishes.