Politically Speaking Blog - Chris Rants Supports McCotter for President

News Article

Early this afternoon, I had the first opportunity to meet 2012 Republican presidential candidate Thad McCotter, who fit in an interview among his stops to view Missouri River flooding in the metro area before heading north to Le Mars, Orange City and Spencer. I left with the interpersonal impression of McCotter's deadpan humor (about whether talent is necessary to excel in rock music, for instance) and low-key manner of speaking.

The Michigan congressman was happy to be meeting Iowans, even if he had to truncate his three-day swing in order to return to the House Tuesday for a debt limit vote. (He'll vote affirmatively on the so-called cut, cap and balance measure, which President Obama has said he'll veto.) McCotter will return next week, by the way, as he seeks to make an impact at the August Iowa Republican Party straw poll in Ames.

McCotter acknowledged he's not well-known, "to put it mildly," after entering the race just a few weeks ago. But he said he's heartened by a Gallup poll that showed more than 50 percent of people couldn't put forth the name of a Republican candidate.

"It might not be bad to be one of the least-known candidates at this point in time, because (Americans) don't seem to be particularly fond of the ones (running)," he said.

However, McCotter did not want to commit to any placing he'd need to reach in the straw poll to energize his campaign.

McCotter talked about how foreign policy is overlooked in the presidential campaign thus far. He's highly concerned about the threat China poses militarily and economically. McCotter also said the U.S. economy is suffering from stagnation, as people like himself from the Detroit area well know.

"We have to restructure big government, because it is imploding. We have to restructure the failed, bailout banks, because the credit isn't flowing to the entreprenuers, it isn't flowing down to the workers, to get the economy growing and shaped for the 21st century," he said.

McCotter came to the interview with former Iowa House Rep. Chris Rants of Sioux City. Rants was one of the most formidable fundraisers in GOP politics for the last decade, and said he was enthused to support McCotter after spending a June day with him in southeast Iowa.

"I look for the ideas candidates," said Rants, who was a Mitt Romney supporter in 2008.

"Watching Thaddeus talk to folks, I'm always interested in the ideas of the candidates, not 30-second soundbites, because the problems are bigger than that."

McCotter will end his day in Iowa with a speech to the Clay County Republican Party in Spencer.

Source