page_title: Thaddeus McCotter 2012 presidential campaign
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Thaddeus McCotter 2012 presidential campaign / Background
caption_attribution_description: Official portrait of Congressman Thaddeus McCotter
context_page_description: Congressman Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan unsuccessfully sought the Republican Party's 2012 nomination for President of the United States. He announced his intention to run when he filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on July 1, 2011, and officially declared his candidacy the next day at a rock festival near Detroit.
  McCotter, who had served in Congress since 2003, was first mentioned as a potential presidential candidate on an April 2011 episode of Fox News' Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. After entering the race two months later, McCotter based his campaign on "five core principles" listed on his campaign website, and used the slogan Seize Freedom!, derived from the title of his 2011 book. During the campaign, he focused on government reform and Wall Street.
  Commentators noted that McCotter's lack of name recognition hindered his chances for nomination. When included in Republican presidential preference polls, he regularly received less than one percent support. Following a last-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll and the lack of any invitation to presidential debates, he dropped his candidacy on September 22, 2011, and endorsed Mitt Romney.
context_section_description: Thaddeus McCotter began his political career upon election to the Wayne County (Michigan) Commission in 1993. Five years later, he left that position after winning a seat in the Michigan State Senate. He remained there until 2002 when elected to serve Michigan's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. 
  In Congress, leadership assigned McCotter to the House Financial Services Committee. In addition, he joined the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership. In 2006, he attained the chairmanship of the House Republican Policy Committee, and two years later was named head of his party's Fiscal Integrity Task Force. On the task force, he gained a reputation as a leading opponent of pork barrel spending. He voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2010, but supported the bailout of the automobile industry in 2009. He also supported an increase in the minimum wage and advocated fair trade with China. Nevertheless, the Detroit Free Press described him as a "conservative's conservative" and GovTrack labeled him a "far-right Republican".
  McCotter was also known as an "oddball" in Congress, displaying a wry sense of humor. Betsy Woodruff of National Review identified him as "the strangest Congressman." Showing a fondness for rock music, he played lead guitar in the Second Amendments. President George W. Bush referred to him as "that rock and roll dude." Moreover, McCotter frequently appeared on Fox News' late night/early morning show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. Bloomberg Businessweek described his celebrity as a "tiny cult following of insomniac conservatives."
caption: Official Congressional photo of Thaddeus McCotter.
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