Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Romer has died at 77

<p>NEW ORLEANS &mdash; Buddy Roemer, a Harvard-educated reform-minded politician whose one tumultuous term as Louisana’s governor was marked by bruising political battles over taxes, budgets and abortion, died Monday at age 77. </p>
<p>His son, Chas Roemer, said the former governor died peacefully at his home in Baton Rouge after a long battle with diabetes. He was surrounded by family, Chas Roemer said. </p>
<p>Roemer never held office again after he finished third in the 1991 race. He came in behind Edwin Edwards, who was making a comeback bid after losing the governorship to Roemer four years earlier, and David Duke, the ex-Ku Klux Klan leader. Edwards trounced Duke in the ensuing runoff, winning a fourth term. </p>
<p>Roemer, who became a banker in private life, ran unsuccessfully for governor again in 1994 and he briefly ran a campaign for the presidency in 2012, railing against special interest politics in a little-noticed effort. </p>