Thaddeus McCotter 2012 presidential campaign

McCotter 2012
Campaign	2012 United States presidential election
Candidate	Thaddeus McCotter U.S. Representative from Michigan
Affiliation	Republican Party
Headquarters	Livonia, Michigan
Key people	Mark Corallo (adviser) Christopher Marston (treasurer) Christopher Rants (adviser)
Receipts	US$550,437 (June 30, 2012)
Slogan	Seize Freedom!
Website
mccotter2012.com (archived October 5, 2011)

U.S. Representative 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 without an invitation to any candidates' debates, he dropped his candidacy on September 22, 2011, and endorsed Mitt Romney. Thereafter, McCotter reportedly wrote a television pilot, which was released to the media prior to his resignation from Congress in July 2012 amid a fraud investigation surrounding his congressional re-election campaign.