Considering that he briefly ran for president last year, it's remarkable that Michigan Republican Representative Thaddeus "Guitar" McCotter has failed to qualify for the primary ballot to keep his own congressional seat. The McCotter campaign turned in a couple thousand nominating signatures. All of 244 were valid, well short of the 1,000 valid signatures he needed.
The petitions are now under investigation for possible fraud. McCotter sounds like he's all for it:
"The buck stops with me," McCotter said. "That's why I urge the continued investigation into the petitions. Everyone deserves to know what happened regarding this filing."
Meanwhile, Congressman McCotter says he'll run in the primary as a write-in candidate. He'll face Kerry Bentivolio, a veteran and teacher who keeps bees and raises reindeer and says he got into the race "to bring back fiscal sanity and accountability to the US Congress."
In addition to the endorsement of FedUpUSA, Bentivolio now bears the distinction of having turned in enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Back in 2010, he ran in the GOP primary for state Senate and lost. This time around, for the big prize in Washington, he's looking at green grass and goal posts.
