Roemer set to announce candidacy today

Former Gov. Buddy Roemer will formally announce his plans to run for the Republican presidential nomination at a press conference in New Hampshire today. Roemer will make the announcement in the Hanover Inn at Dartmouth College at 10:45 a.m. While Roemer hasn’t received much attention—he’s been left out of some GOP debates because he’s polling below 1% nationally—political strategist Mark McKinnon says he deserves to be heard. McKinnon, who worked on Roemer’s 1987 gubernatorial campaign and later worked for former President George W. Bush, says Roemer has an important message about the corrupt influence of money on politics. “Roemer is doing things differently. He’s refusing to play by the rules and shake down moneyed interests to underwrite his campaign. He wants to be free to lead. A lot of people laugh at him. A lot of people laughed at him when he ran for governor in 1987 under the same constraints on fundraising. He’s a gambler who likes to throw deep. Sometimes the long ball connects,” McKinnon says in a column that ran today in online magazine The Daily Beast. Read the column here. Roemer will reportedly cap off the day with an appearance on On The Record with Greta Van Sustern at 9 p.m. tonight on Fox News.