Buddy Roemer Prepares to Bid a Teary Goodbye to the Granite State

By Sarah Parnass Jan 10, 2012 7:04pm

Steve Pope/Getty Images

Most of the GOP candidates hopped a plane to New Hampshire last week by way of Iowa, following the caucuses. But not Buddy.
Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer has lived in an apartment on Brown Avenue near the airport in Manchester, N.H., with his son, Dakota, since Dakota found the apartment in July. In those months, Roemer traversed the Granite State, shaking hands and taking donations, no more than $100 per contributor.
But Roemer’s lease is almost up. Come Jan. 15, he’ll move on to Michigan.
Is he happy to go? No way. Roemer told a local TV station today he “got teary-eyed thinking about leaving New Hampshire.”
“I love New Hampshire,” Roemer said. “It’s small enough that you can go from Derry to Keene and up to Littleton in a couple of hours.”
Roemer compared his time in New Hampshire the past six months to his college years as a Harvard student in Massachusetts.
But his time in New Hampshire has not been without challenges. Taking limited donations and eschewing Super PACs made it largely more difficult for Roemer to accrue the same level of resources as candidates without these limitations. “It’s been frustrating,” going up against campaigns with more money, he admitted.
But Roemer said his goal was never to win the presidency. Instead he hoped to inform voters about what he perceives as corruption in Washington politics and establish credibility as the best man to deliver that message. In that, he believes he succeeded.
“I’m very pleased with what happened in New Hampshire,” he said
Roemer also set himself apart this campaign season by live tweeting several televised presidential debates, which he was not invited to attend.
As for tonight’s results, Roemer expects to get no more than 2 percent of the vote.
“I mean Mitt Romney’s going to win this state. He’s led from the beginning. He lives here, he’s well-known,” Roemer said. “And so I didn’t expect to overcome that.”
From New Hampshire, the Roemer campaign will forge on to Michigan and then Arizona. Roemer said he was already on the ballot in 25 states and hoped to gain at least 10 or 15 more before the Republican National Convention. Though some analysts have already anointed Romney as the presumed winner of the GOP nomination, Roemer believes the race is not yet settled.
“I think the Republican Party is up in the air as to who the nominee is going be,” Roemer said. “I think this process will take a long time.”