FASCINATING – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  There's a new presidential candidate in town.  From The Politico:

Thaddeus McCotter will file paperwork on Friday to become the eighth Republican candidate for president, a McCotter adviser told POLITICO.

Thaddeus who?  Although we have an exceptional readership, many readers might not be instantly familiar with the name.  Well, get ready.  This is one of the smartest members of Congress, and he actually can write!  And, I have to say, I love the name:  President Thaddeus McCotter.  I can see Henry Fonda in that role. 

McCotter spent four days in Iowa this week and came away “feeling positive” about his reception, the adviser said. His presidential campaign website will go live around noon tomorrow, allowing the four-term Michigan congressman to kick off his long-shot bid on the first day of the new fundraising quarter.

His presidential committee, dubbed McCotter 2012, will start out with funds in the six figures, according to the source. The campaign will not have to file a full fundraising report until the fall. McCotter had nearly half a million dollars in his House campaign account at the end of March.

The source said that former Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants will serve as McCotter’s senior adviser in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Rants, who endorsed Mitt Romney early in the 2008 cycle, confirmed that he spent the week introducing McCotter to Iowans and the state of the race.

Note this:

Even before formally launching his presidential bid, McCotter has not shyed from firing shots at those already in the presidential race. When frontrunner Mitt Romney visited Michigan earlier this month, McCotter declared that “struggling families, entrepreneurs and workers can’t afford policies that make Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama less than rivals, and more like running mates.”

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.”

Now there's a guy I can admire.  Watch him.  His campaign may be a long shot, but McCotter has substance, and one day he may well go the distance.  The intellectual level of the Republican field just doubled.

July 1, 2011