A Hit in Iowa, Roemer on to South Carolina
by JOHN MAGINNIS - LAPolitics (excerpt)

After a well-received maiden address in Waukee, Iowa, Buddy Roemer takes his presidential exploratory campaign to South Carolina for a speaking engagement next week, after meetings in Washington with some senators and "some guys advising me."

The Des Moines Register and CNN both say he got the strongest crowd response at the Faith and Family Forum on Monday. While presidential candidates in Iowa tend to speak in support of the ethanol industry or to avoid the subject, Roemer called for an end to federal subsidies for corn production and for oil exploration. Operating with six volunteers and no paid staff, his campaign has leased the unused fourth floor of his bank building for 120 days and has installed phone lines. His lone new hire was at his bank. Replacing himself as president is his nephew, Jude Melville, who helped start Business First Bank.

"They're all playing the PAC game," he said of his GOP rivals, as he continues to talk about how politics has been corrupted by money. "It will be the issue," he said. "They know I'm coming. I'm coming on that issue."