Ben Carson's Rise To The Top

06:34

October 26, 2015

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks during a town hall event at River Woods September 30, 2015 in Exeter, New Hampshire. (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Dr. Ben Carson has moved ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics poll released Friday.

Donald Trump went on the attack this weekend, seeming to raise questions about Ben Carson's faith - he's a Seventh-day Adventist - and mocking Carson's quiet nature.

When asked about it on "Meet The Press," Carson responded by saying he wasn't always this quiet. "As a teenager, I would go after people with rocks, and bricks, and baseball bats, and hammers. And, of course, many people know the story when I was 14 and I tried to stab someone," he said.

Ben Carson talks about his life in his 1992 biography "Gifted Hands," which is still required reading in some schools. But some are asking, who is Ben Carson and why is he surging in the polls?

Robert Samuels, national political reporter for the Washington Post, joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about the leading Republican candidate.

Guest

Robert Samuels, national political reporter for The Washington Post. He tweets @newsbysamuels.

This segment aired on October 26, 2015.