Thad McCotter did not turn in enough valid voter signatures to run for a sixth term as a U.S. Congressmanhttp://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/thad_mccotter_may_not_get_on_b.htmlMcCotter After Ballot Screwup: ‘I Feel Like George Bailey’Instead of cruising to re-election to a sixth term in Congress, Michigan’s Thaddeus McCotter will be campaigning the hard way: as a write-in for the Republican nomination.
In an op-ed in today’s “Detroit News,” McCotter describes himself as living a version of the all-hope-is-lost scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“I feel like George Bailey after Uncle Billy admitted he lost the money,” he writes. “Unlike George, I am not tempted to jump off a bridge. Instead, I remember my late father’s rule: ‘You clean up your own mess.’”
McCotter needed 1,000 valid signatures to get on the Aug. 7 primary ballot. His team turned in the maximum allowed, 2,000, but there weren’t enough valid ones for him to qualify, according to a campaign statement and the op-ed.
“While I will not speculate on how this surreal outcome has happened — pending the appropriate state review — I will say that, regardless of how the insufficiencies and possible irregularities occurred, the buck stops here with me for the failure to file sufficient petition signatures,” he wrote. “Today, I am sending a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office agreeing with their finding that my petitions are insufficient to place my name on the August primary ballot; asking that they be presented as insufficient to the State Board of Canvassers for rejection; and requesting the Secretary of State’s Office to refer any irregularities to the state attorney general for a thorough investigation.
McCotter was first elected to Congress in 2002. He briefly ran for president in 2011, though dropped out after finishing last in the August Iowa Straw Poll.
Michigan’s 11th District is a Republican-leaning collection of Detroit suburbs in western Wayne and Oakland counties. Another Republican, Kerry Bentivolio, who aligns himself with the Tea Party, has filed to run there, as have two Democrats, Syed Taj, a Canton Township trustee, and Bill Roberts, a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche who has advocated impeaching President Barack Obama.
“I bet Democrats are wishing they got a better candidate,” Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, said in an e-mail.
http://go.bloomberg.com/political-economy/2012-05-29/mccotter-after-ballot-screwup-i-feel-like-george-bailey/
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Topic: Republican Thad McCotter did not turn in enough valid voter signatures (Read 271 times)
