Go On Without Me

Well, the kid from Livonia won't be president, after all.

It would have been nice to have my hometown known for something other than being the leading speed trap in the country.

U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter (R-Livonia) is dropping out of the presidential race, not that he was really in it to begin with.

McCotter's out because of the big, bad media---to hear him tell it.

McCotter failed to win access to the early GOP debates, which was his death knell.

"If they keep you out of the debates, you are out of the conversation and you can't run," McCotter told the Detroit News. "It was sort of death by media."

I wrote of McCotter's rather surprising entry into the White House race, when he deemed himself the voice of a new generation of conservatives. I thought at the time that a fellow Livonian becoming president would be pretty cool, though I am far from McCotter's political brethren.

Apparently that new conservative voice of which McCotter fancied himself will now be speaking on behalf of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who McCotter now supports.

"Especially with his business background and in a stagnant economy, he may be the most electable," McCotter said.

McCotter likes Romney rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but said the country isn't ready for another Texas president so soon after President George W. Bush. "He may be a vice presidential nominee," McCotter said.

McCotter serves on the House Financial Services Committee, but he found it difficult to gain traction in the crowded GOP field.

He was denied a spot on the stage during the candidate debates. Fox News refused to include him in tonight's debate from Orlando, even though it allowed former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson a podium for the first time.

That's no way to treat someone from Livonia---who's not a traffic cop writing you a speeding ticket!!

So the only Michigan man who was president will continue to be Jerry Ford, I guess.


McCotter: Bowing out early


I actually love the early portions of a presidential campaign---from the perspective of the party opposite the incumbent's.

I get a kick out of how large the field is, initially, and how it dwindles.

Though I do think the campaigns are too damn long.

Someone in politics once said, "It's easier to run for president than it is to stop running."

But in McCotter's case, I don't know that it was all that hard for him to pull the plug.

According to the News, former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a neighbor to McCotter, said running for president "was (McCotter's) dream. … He tried it out, obviously it wasn't working. And he's doing the rational thing and dropping out."

Often, doing the rational thing isn't always the easiest thing to do, especially when one has such lofty hopes. But McCotter did it, just the same.

Thad McCotter isn't even 50 years old yet. There's still time.

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