Iiiiinteresting. It looks like Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, now in his fifth term in the U.S. House, will officially throw his hat into the ring for the GOP presidential nomination later today, becoming the eighth definitive candidate to join the fray. The Michigan Republican will file the paperwork with the Federal Election Commission this afternoon, his website is set to go live, and he'll give the obligatory "I'm Thad McCotter and I'm running for President" speech on Saturday.
In an interview with POLITICO last month, McCotter previewed some of the themes of a potential presidential run: “The challenge of globalization, the war for freedom against terrorists, the rise of Communist China and whether moral relativism erodes a nation built on self-evident truth.”
McCotter is little known to Republicans nationally, but has a strong following among the conservative media in-crowd. Andrew Breitbart gushed about a potential McCotter candidacy to POLITICO in May, calling him “blunt, sarcastic, pop-culture-savvy, constitutionally sound and an authentic voice.”
McCotter, 45, will be the third sitting member of Congress to get into the 2012 race, joining Reps. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann. He’s the former head of the Policy Committee, a GOP leadership position he yielded last year after trying to eliminate it in an effort to save taxpayer money.
A frequent guest on Fox’s late night show “Red Eye” and Dennis Miller’s radio program, McCotter is a frequent Twitter user who has said he believes emerging media tools could allow a candidate with less name recognition and personal wealth to be competitive in a national contest.
'Long-shot,' 'wild card,' and 'rock star' all spring immediately to my mind (Rep. McCotter plays a star-spangled guitar for the Second Amendments, a rock band composed of some of Congress's musicians in-residence), but he does talk a pretty good game when it comes to the Constitution, the deficit, the size of government, etcetera. He does, however, have a few not-so-staunchly-conservative quirks, as National Review points out (h/t Allahpundit). I certainly do enjoy following his eccentric yet freedom-loving Tweets - potentially good for the race as a counter to the young-ish, media-savvy, celebrity superstar Obama campaign tactics? Maybe? No? Too aged-rocker?
(Do my eyes deceive me, or was that Katie Pavlich in the background?)