WASHINGTON – Buddy Roemer watched one of the recent Republican presidential debates from a television studio in New York City, tweeting answers to questions asked of the candidates.
The former Louisiana governor, a GOP presidential candidate himself, longs to face off against his better-known opponents, but he wasn't invited to last Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas. In fact, he hasn't been invited to any of the nearly dozen national Republican presidential debates.
"I'm frustrated," said Roemer, 68. "I haven't figured out how to crack that —being left out business."
Roemer remains optimistic. He filed papers in New Hampshire last Wednesday adding his name to the ballot in the state's early Republican primary. Early this year, he moved to New Hampshire, and he announced his White House bid at Dartmouth College in July.
"I'm trying to be like Herman Cain," Roemer said. "I'm trying to catch on fire."
But the former governor of Louisiana is still largely unknown outside the South. He has raised a fraction of the campaign money amassed by the top-tier GOP candidates, and he's getting almost no national exposure.
"He has to be getting discouraged by the fact that no one is paying him much attention," said Pearson Cross, head of the political science department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "He's not referred to as a possible nominee. He has been left out of the debates. In short, it seems like his campaign isn't going anywhere."
Roemer's recent appearance at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City earned him a few minutes of national coverage.
"(For a) campaign that is utterly starved for attention, that's good," said David Lanoue, a political scientist at Columbus State University in Georgia. "(But) it's unclear which Republican constituency this move will appeal to."
Weeks earlier, Roemer held a press conference outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington. For more than an hour, he read from a handwritten speech, touting his jobs plan and blasting the Obama administration and Congress for not doing enough about China's "unfair trade practices."
"I think it's killing us," Roemer said later in an interview at a nearby coffee shop. "That's why there are no new jobs in America."
Roemer was elected governor as a Democrat and served from March 1988 to January 1992. He switched to the Republican party in 1991.
He represented Louisiana in the House as a conservative Democrat from 1981 to 1988, and is a former CEO of Business First Bank in Baton Rouge.
Roemer acknowledges his campaign is a long shot.
"But I'm always a long shot," he said. "I'm into doing it differently. Changing parties while I'm in office is what I did. Taking no political action committee money in Congress, that's what I did. Limiting contributions as governor, that's what I did. These are long-shot types of things."
Roemer has staked his candidacy on doing well in the New Hampshire primary, traditionally one of the earliest in the country. It could take place as early as December, experts say.
Roemer has held town hall meetings and given speeches around the state.
But that hasn't paid off yet, said Andy Smith, a political scientist and director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. In a recent survey of likely Republican primary voters, fewer than 1% said they would vote for Roemer, Smith said.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney led the poll with 42%, followed by Cain at 13%. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson also polled below 1%.
"Neither of them has been able to capitalize on their past experience and neither of them has been able to get voters to take them seriously," Smith said of Roemer and Johnson. They've "just never been able to get off the ground."
Political experts say Roemer is right to focus on a state where independents can vote in the Republican primary.
"If Buddy can exceed expectations in New Hampshire or even sneak in and steal third — that would give a boost that he could build on," Cross said.
Roemer has made campaign reform a signature issue, vowing to accept no donations from political action committees and to limit individual donations to $100.
For the quarter ending Sept. 30, Roemer had raised about $126,500 in the last quarter and loaned his campaign $10,000, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Romney raised $14.2 million during the same period, FEC records show.
Roemer said he needs a spot at a national debate to drum up more support.
"It's the only way I can make up the money disadvantage," he said. "I just have to keep hoping that maybe a (debate) sponsor would say that I would bring something to the debate."
Roemer in June 2011. 
U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate and former   of Louisiana took some time to answer a few questions from ''Wikinews'' reporter William S. Saturn.

Roemer served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1980s as a member of the Democratic Party. He was  governor as a Democrat in 1987 before switching to the Republican Party ahead of the . That year, he lost the party's primary to state legislator . After his governorship, Roemer worked as CEO of Business First Bank in .

Roemer announced his candidacy for president back in July after exploring a bid for several months.  He has focused his campaign on the issue of , refusing to accept money from  (PACs) and limiting individual campaign contributions to $100.  He raised a total of $126,500 in the third quarter of 2011, far short of the $14.2 million raised by former Massachusetts  Mitt Romney.  

For his campaign, Roemer has adopted the slogan 'Free to Lead'.  He rails against corruption, special interests, and money in politics, and has expressed support for the  protests.  Furthermore, he has taken issue positions in favor of , a balanced federal budget, and a strengthened national defense.

Roemer has not been invited to any national presidential debates.  He has focused largely on the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, and recently signed up to appear on the state's primary ballot.  However, a recent University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll shows him with less than one percent support in the state. Pearson Cross of the  commented, "If Buddy can exceed expectations in New Hampshire or even sneak in and steal third — that would give a boost that he could build on".