Buddy Roemer drops third-party bid for White House

Buddy Roemer announced Thursday that he is officially ending his third-party bid for the presidency.

In February, Roemer dropped his bid for the Republican nomination to run on the Reform Party ticket. He failed to qualify for the November ballot in any of the 50 states, and cited that as his reason for dropping out of the race.

In a statement announcing his exit, Roemer thanked his family, staff and volunteers for helping him run his ideal campaign. The campaign has no debt and Roemer exits the race with money in the bank, according to the statement. "We ran like we would serve — free to lead. To protect that freedom, we fully disclosed every contribution. We accepted no contributions above $100. We accepted no PAC money, no super-PAC money, no corporate money and no lobbyist money," the release reads.

Roemer, who has been active on social media as a candidate, wrote and tweeted that he will turn his full attention to campaign finance reform.

As I am no longer a candidate for president, I am free to pledge a good portion of the rest of my life to enacting campaign reform.

— Gov. Buddy Roemer (@BuddyRoemer) May 31, 2012

"Instead of using my right to the floor of Congress to lobby for corporate clients, I will lobby for the American people who want reform," he promised. "It might require a new organization to get this done, but regardless, we will highlight corruption and its effects on policy and public perception, suggest solutions, build coalitions and support the advocates of our ideas or those who have better ones."

Roemer, formerly a Democratic congressman, switched to the Republican Party while serving as governor of Louisiana in 1991.

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