Louisiana’s former governor to run as a Third Party presidential candidate
15th December 2011 · 0 Comments
By Christopher Tidmore
The Louisiana Weekly
The first day of qualifying for the Louisiana’s Presidential Primaries on March 24, came and went last Wednesday, and Buddy Roemer was nowhere to be seen. Most political observers were sure that the former Pelican State governor was sure to enter the GOP primaries of his own home state, at least, regardless of his position in the national polls. Others wondered if he was even concerned with the Republican nomination at all anymore.
A week previously, Buddy Roemer announced that he planned to seek Americans Elect third-party nomination for president, a move that if successful, would make Barack Obama’s path to a second term far easier.
Not because the former Louisiana governor could win, but Roemer is well placed to be the Republicans’ Ralph Nader in 2012, should be continue this third party bid.
And, he is not alone. Former New Mexico GOP Governor Gary Johnson indicated that he might seek the Libertarian Party nomination. Lastly, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, despite his rise to top tier candidate status in the Republican field—and the real possibility of a victory three weeks from now in the Iowa Caucuses—has not ruled out the possibility of a third party bid himself.
Buddy Roemer was the first person to make a real declaration of third party candidacy, though, and the airwaves buzzed with the news. It was quite a change for a President candidate who could only garner press attention after it was revealed that he had received a joke of donation from the cartoon character Homer Simpson, and was so desperate for publicity that he offered the VP slot to Joe Lieberman should he succeed in getting the GOP nomination.
As he said in a statement released by his campaign, “Today I officially announce that I will seek the Americans Elect nomination as a proud Republican but as an even prouder American.”
Citing his frustration with his exclusion from the GOP debates, the former La. governor explained in a statement to this newspaper, “I will take my message of ending business as usual in Washington directly to the American people…No other candidate is free from the special interests or has the experience I have. I am a former governor, four-term congressman, successful businessman and Harvard-educated economist. And yet, the Republican Party has not allowed me in the debates. Perhaps they don’t like my message about the corrupting influence of money in politics. But, I believe the American people want to hear the message, so I’m going to seek the nomination of Americans Elect, which appears eager to welcome diverse and controversial opinions that may upset the status quo.”
Americans Elect, organized as a private organization rather than a political party, expects to gain access to the ballot in all 50 states for a national ticket that will be selected on-line by any and all registered voters. Those who want to participate here in Louisiana can go the website http://www.americanselect.org/tulane. Local spokesperson Chris Villere told The Louisiana Weekly, “He could get this nomination. Roemer like any other former governor only needs ten thousand support clicks, one thousand support clicks from ten different states by April…. Because of his support that is easily attainable.”
Villere outlined the process. For qualified candidates, which includes former Governors, US Senators, Congressmen, Vice Presidents, or University Presidents (of Colleges of more than 4,000 students), amongst others, the process requires just 10,000 people to click their support spread out over ten states. For someone without that political/admin background, they can run as well. It just requires 100,000 clicks, with 10,000 each in at least ten states.
For the general public, “to sign up as a delegate,” Villere continued, “it’s very easy. You only have to be a registered voter in the United States, and answer nine questions [on the website] of where you stand on issues…from immigration to the budget.”
The list of potential presidential candidates will be narrowed to a list of six, then the delegates will vote for a nominee. It could be Roemer, or as Villere explained, “It could be someone from the Democratic side. This isn’t an effort by one side or another. It is a nominating process where the delegates choose the platform and the candidate on their own.”
Americans Elect has no specific viewpoints, save that “there has to be more competition in the Presidential race.” Villere maintained, “That’s why people are so disillusioned. They want a greater choice of candidates.”
If Roemer were to get the nomination, Villere admitted that it would likely help Barack Obama. The aptly named Purple Poll shows the President with sagging approval numbers in the key swing states that he must carry to win.
The survey, conducted Nov. 13-17, also shows Obama is deadlocked against Republican Mitt Romney, with 45 percent of the vote each in those states. As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich surges, he, too, shows well against the White House incumbent; Obama leads Mr. Gingrich 46 percent to 44 percent. The poll of 1,436 likely voters focuses on Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Obama won all of them in defeating the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, in 2008. Since 1996, according to Purple Insights, nine of these states have shifted between the parties, and three – Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – have been determined by margins of three points or less.
And, that is the disadvantage for the GOP of a Roemer Third Party candidacy. The former Louisiana governor may not win, but his conservative fiscal and social policies matched with an emphasis on campaign finance reform and taking the money out of politics could steal one or two points from the GOP nominee, swinging those states to Obama.
Not so fast, said Villere. While Roemer is the first candidate to announce, he might actually have some top-tier competition that might equally swing against Obama. Though New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg regularly denies any interest in running for president, he certainly sounded like he was making the case at a speech two weeks ago.
The New York Observer reported that Bloomberg said, “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world. I have my own State Department, much to Foggy Bottom’s annoyance. We have the United Nations in New York, and so we have an entree into the diplomatic world that Washington does not have.”
He also highlighted his “outsider” credentials: “I don’t listen to Washington very much, which is something they’re not thrilled about. We have every kind of people from every part of the world and every kind of problem.”
“Michael Bloomberg would be a very strong candidate,” Villere observed. “He’s neither a Republican or a Democrat [having been both], and would have great appeal.” And, the Americans Elect local rep noted that many potential candidates from both sides of the political aisle are being floated as potential candidates.
And, Villere noted, regardless of the candidate, under the Americans Elect by-laws, any nominee selected over the course of several rounds of balloting between April and June, would have to select a vice presidential candidate not of the same party. “That means regardless of whether there is a Republican or a Democrat at the top of the ticket, there is an appeal to the other side based on who the vice presidential candidate is.”
“I think the Republicans and Democrats are scared to death of this,” Villere observed. “We’re opening up the process to the American People…For all of those that call us spoilers, I ask them when is the right time? It’s important to have competition.”
Regardless of pursuing the Americans Elect nod, Roemer maintained he will continue to compete in the first-in-the-nation Republican primary in New Hampshire, where he is has been living since the summer, and “hope to surprise everyone on Jan. 10.” However, part of his decision to seek the third party nod is that the La. governor has been kept off the ballot in the two other key early-voting states of South Carolina and Florida.
In a way, it is an odd combination. Roemer has built his “free-to-lead” campaign around the corrupting power of money on politics, but his refusal to accept any donation of greater than $100 has undercut his wherewithal to garner the kind of funds that would enable him to reach a broad enough audience to have any impact.
In one important respect, Americans Elect and Roemer occupy very different political space. Roemer refuses any contribution of greater than $100 while Americans Elect, which has raised more then $20 million and has budgeted $30 million to gain ballot access in every state and run the on-line operation and election, has relied so far on big donors and has not disclosed their identity. Once it places its candidate on the ballot, Americans Elect will not be directly involved in trying to elect that candidate.
Two weeks ago, Roemer asked Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to he his running mate. Lieberman, through a spokesman, politely declined, noting that, as Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, he had already been there “got the T-shirt and the Chad to prove it.” Both Roemer and Lieberman are very close to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 GOP presidential candidate, for whom they both campaigned.
After the refusal, the former Louisiana governor tweeted his followers asking for other running mate suggestions, and, according to Carlos Sierra, his campaign manager, [speaking to politico.com] received quite a few responses. Among those with multiple mentions, he said, were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat who partnered with McCain on campaign finance reform; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Socialist elected as an Independent who, like Lieberman, caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, and Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard professor and Roemer booster, and the author of a recent book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It. Sierra said Roemer would also consider Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff for President Clinton and co-chair of the federal debt commission.
The Americans Elect’s candidates page cites Roemer as the public figure whose views most closely match a national survey conducted for them by Ipsos Public Affairs. Their version of Roemer’s views on the issues, though, are based on a questionable analysis of his positions over the years by OnTheIssues.org, which Roemer told Politico.com not entirely accurate.
Still, the former Louisiana Governor does not seem to be putting all of his eggs in the proverbial third party basket. On Thursday, he ultimately did qualify here in Louisiana for the March 24, 2012 Presidential primary, surprising those the previous day who were convinced he would not. He was joined at the time this newspaper went to press Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, and unknown Randy Crowe from North Carolina.
President Obama also drew some competition here in Louisiana. Darcy Richardson, the editor of the left-wing Battlefield Blog out of Florida registered to challenge the President for the Democratic nomination.
Louisiana is one of the easiest states to gain ballot access requiring only a small fee. Other states demand significant levels of signatures. The threshold was so high in Missouri that Newt Gingrich, the GOP frontrunner, lacked the resources to gain enough signatures to make it on that state’s primary ballot.
This article originally published in the December 12, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
