Buddy Roemer Ends Dark Horse Bid for White House

On Thursday, former Gov. Charles Buddy Roemer of Louisiana pulled the plug on his underdog bid for the presidency.

Making campaign finance reform one of the centerpieces of his campaign, Roemer had been seeking the Republican nomination and focused on making a breakthrough in New Hampshire, the first primary state. But having been left out of the debates, Roemer took less than 1 percent in the Granite State and set his eyes on winning the nominations of Americans Elect and the Reform Party. While Roemer garnered more supporters than any other candidates for the Americans Elect nomination, he did not have as many backers as needed to win it. With Americans Elect deciding not to nominate a candidate in 2012, Roemer was essentially left without ballot access -- something he touched on as he bowed out of the race on Thursday.

Today, I am no longer a candidate for president of the United States, Roemer announced. After 17 months of a wonderful campaign, the lack of ballot access in all 50 states makes the quest impossible for now.

Roemer insisted that he would remain active in political life and that he would launch a new organization to focus on campaign finance reform.