Buddy Roemer

Um, I mean, the, uh, Freedom to Vote Act is in its version, had a ba- basically a block grant system that they would give to states where they said, "You can use this to experiment with different modes of public funding." It seems to me, um, you know, I don't know, I'm not gonna be around long enough to, like, have it go through the states and bu- bubble up to the United States, uh, Congress.

Why not go for it directly? Why, why isn't this as important as, you know, any of the other issues that you're talking about? Because it will not be that you will have a Congress free to lead, as my friend Buddy Roemer used to put it, unless they don't have to constantly worry about how they're gonna be raising money, spending 30 to 70% of their time dialing for dollars.

I mean, that is the essential corruption in this system that will only be solved by public funding.

Some-

He's got, he's loaded for that.

But, uh, when I, when I first picked up on the thought that he was maybe considering running for president, he worked for former Governor Buddy Roemer, who did make a run for president, so he's kind of familiar with it.

They sent him to Iowa.

You know, the farmers are unhappy with the Republican policies.

But here, he's just the forgotten man, I think.

Oh, no doubt about it, no doubt about it.

So- That takes us through, then we've got one final, uh, person who announced and raised money, and was on a lot of the talk shows, and made an effort to run for governor, and that's, uh, rather for president, and that's another one of our governors, Buddy Roemer.

And you know, you knew Buddy Roemer very well.

He was like, "I don't, I like the Iraq War." I feel like that's a time when if you were switching one, most people were going Republican to Democrat.

Kennedy served as a cabinet member and special counsel to Democratic Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, Secretary of Louisiana Department of Revenue, and was elected to the, uh, Louisiana State Treasurer as a Democrat in 2000.

He also ran unsuccessfully as a liberal Democrat in the 2004 US Senate primary, endorsing John Kerry for president.

Encouraged by fig- encouraged by figures like GOP Senator David Vitter and advisor Karl Rove, and noting that Louisiana was trending more conservative, Kennedy officially changed his registration to the Republican Party in '07.