Buddy Roemer ends presidential bid

Former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer has ended his presidential campaign,during which he sought the nominations of the Republican Party, Reform Party and the aborted bipartisan group Americans Elect.

In an interview with The Fix, Roemer said he has simply run out of options.

“Our strategy was a 50-ballot approach, trying to generate enough interest in reform to get to a 15 percent national poll standing, which would put you in the fall debates,” Roemer said. “But the failure of Americans Elect and our inability to achieve the nomination really took away our last chance of ballot access.”
In this March 3, 2012 file photo, former Louisiana governor Charles ”Buddy” Roemer gestures during a news conference in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Roemer’s campaign was notable (and doomed) because it didn’t accept donations over $100 and didn’t accept money from political action committees.

But, in large part because of the lack of funds, Roemer never caught on in the polls and was never invited to a Republican debate.

After a few GOP primaries, Roemer switched to the independent route and said he would seek the Americans Elect and Reform Party nominations. But nobody received enough support to get the Americans Elect nomination, and the Reform Party won’t be on the ballot in every state.

Roemer said he is foregoing his presidential bid to start an organization to fight against the influence of special interests.

“For the first time in my life, I’m saying publicly that I will spend a good portion of the remainder of my life pushing for, building for, searching for reform that will change the control of policy in this country,” Roemer said.

Roemer served for seven years in the U.S. House before being elected governor in 1987. He lost his reelection bid to former governor Edwin Edwards in 1991, a race in which Edwards ran on the slogan “Vote for the crook. It’s important.” (Former KKK leader David Duke was also in the race.)