McCotter told The Detriot News Thursday afternoon that was abandoning his bid for the White House in 2012, and will likely seek reelection to his current seat in Congress.

Like several of the lesser-known candidates, McCotter had a difficult time garnering national attention.

“The great irony at work — especially with the Reagan Library debate — is going to be the fact that two frontrunners weren’t even Republicans during the Reagan administration, whereas people like myself at the age of 21 were,” McCotter said during an appearance on Fox Business earlier this month while discussing his exclusion from a presidential debate in California.

As The Iowa Independent previously noted, his Hawkeye State stump speech was “like a feature-length drama — full of danger about the future, with GOP activists cast as the protagonists that must rise up against all odds and save the entire world.”

McCotter believes that government cannot just be cut or shrunk, but that it — and especially entitlement programs and regulatory agencies — must be “restructured for the 21st century.” He says that Republicans understand the fallacy of the “welfare state” is the temptation of false security that takes a person capable of “the dignity of self-reliance” and makes that person dependent upon government.

While not the most flashy of the 2012ers, he was the candidate that seemed to give rally and dinner attendees pause — pull them down into a world of nearly insurmountable perceived threats to family and security before rallying them with his honest perception that they, Republican activists, were the only ones prepared enough to save the nation.

“He’s really witty” or “he made me think” were common remarks heard from those who heard his speak.

There is no word yet from the Romney campaign regarding McCotter’s endorsement, but it isn’t likely to come as a complete surprise to Iowans. McCotter’s chief supporter in the Hawkeye State was former state Rep. Christopher Rants, who supported Romney in 2008. There’s no word yet from Rants on whether he will once again support Romney.

“The great irony at work — especially with the Reagan Library debate — is going to be the fact that two frontrunners weren’t even Republicans during the Reagan administration, whereas people like myself at the age of 21 were,” McCotter said during an appearance on Fox Business.

The Simi Valley, Calif. debate is slated for Sept. 7 and is being co-sponsored by NBC News and The Politico, which have established rules that only candidates who have received “at least four percent support as the preferred nominee among Republicans in a methodologically sound and recognized national poll conducted by one of the following survey organization since the November 2010 elections: Gallop, Bloomberg, NBC/WSJ, ABC/Washington Post, CBS/The New York Times, CNN, Fox and Associated Press.”

Inclusion is open, organizers say, to “all Republicans who have a reasonable prospect of becoming the GOP nominee and who have demonstrated that they are in a credible position to be a principal competitor in the early stages of the nominating contest.”

Using such a standard, it’s clear that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Atlanta businessman Herman Cain make the cut, and they are all expected to participate.

Also expected to be on the stage, however, are former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum — candidates who, according to the latest Gallup poll, do not break 4 percent. But because the organizers did not stipulate that the polling must be recent, nor that the poll had to include the existing field or be exclusive to candidates who have actually committed to be in the race.

That means some candidates can pull polls from months ago — prior to Perry’s announcement — or polls that spread the already congested field by including non-committed candidates like Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin or former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Those who don’t make the cut include McCotter, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and political strategist Fred Karger.

“It’s especially disheartening when you know that people who are on that stage are either tied with me in the polls, as a ‘tertiary candidate,’‟ and have been running and spending millions of dollars, or are within very close proximity to us in the polls,” McCotter said.

“As a Detroiter, you put your nose to the grindstone; you work hard, and try to make things happen.”

On Thursday the Johnson campaign also questioned the rules being used to invite some and exclude others from the debate process.

Clips of McCotter’s appearance on Fox Business are embedded below:

Perry’s signature joins those of candidates Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). The pledge is intended to influence whom these presidential hopefuls will choose to fill their cabinets, should they win next year’s presidential election.

The four-point pledge stipulates that signers agree to “select only pro-life appointees for relevant Cabinet and Executive Branch positions, in particular the head of National Institutes of Health, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health & Human Services.”

In a post on the Washington Post blog Right Turn, Jennifer Rubin points out that Perry might come to regret putting pen to the SBA List’s pledge when he realizes it means he won’t be able to appoint former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to his cabinet, who Rubin suggests might have been Perry’s pick for attorney general.

From WaPo:

Perry endorsed Giuliani for president in 2008. Good enough for the Oval Office but not the Justice Department? I asked the Perry campaign to explain but no answer was forthcoming.

[...]

Has Perry rethought the qualities needed for national service or is he the latest candidate, unfortunately, to jump when a special-interest group comes calling? Then it was good enough to look Giuliani in the eye. Now he’s not good enough to run HHS. Maybe Perry regrets endorsing Giuliani, or maybe he didn’t read through the SBA pledge. But his position then and his position now in the wisdom of pro-choice politicians serving in high office are contradictory. He should explain himself to the voters.

GOP presidential hopefuls who have not signed the SBA List’s pledge include former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Herman Cain.

Adding to his support for the anti-abortion rights movement, in November Perry is scheduled to co-chair the 40-year anniversary gala of Americans United for Life, an influential anti-abortion rights policy group based in Washington, D.C.

Watch Perry endorsing Giuliani for president in 2008:

The Nov. 2 gala, to be held at the Newseum in Washington D.C., is intended to celebrate AUL’s 40th anniversary in the presence of about 80 federal lawmakers.

Co-chairing the event with Perry are U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.); the keynote speaker has yet to be confirmed.

AUL has listed as “honorary hosts” 16 U.S. senators — all Republicans — including Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), John McCain (Ariz.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.). Among the 63 U.S. House representatives listed as “honorary hosts” are 2012 GOP presidential contenders Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.). Other attending GOP representatives influential in the anti-abortion rights movement include Reps. Trent Franks (Ariz.), Mike Pence (Ind.), Joe Pitts (Pa.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Cliff Stearns (Fla.) and Allen West (Fla.).

Reps. Renee Ellmers (N.C.), Bill Huizenga (Mich.), Randy Hultgren (Ill.) and Chris Smith (N.J.) all participated in last month’s press conference about the report AUL drafted to encourage Congress to investigate — and then defund — Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

AUL’s gala is a pricey affair: The organization is asking supporters to become sponsors — for $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 in order to offset the costs of the event.

In a recent lengthy profile on Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, the Christian Science Monitor describes how Yoest — who is not a physician, attorney nor lawmaker, though she has a doctorate of philosophy in government — has become “Public Enemy No. 1″ for abortion-rights advocates. In November, the group will celebrate its influence on select laws, such as defending the Hyde Amendment before the U.S. Supreme Court and establishing the “intellectual groundwork” for the fetal homicide legislation that has passed in 38 states.

Despite four decades of lobbying and drafting model legislation to enact abortion restrictions throughout the country, much of the national recognition AUL has earned has come in 2011. Yoest’s group has taken credit for 22 of 86 anti-abortion laws enacted this year, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

In February, Mother Jones blamed AUL for controversial laws cropping up in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota that, if interpreted in a certain way, would have allegedly legalized the killing of abortion providers. AUL denied the accusation, claiming that however lawmakers might have adapted AUL’s model “Pregnant Woman Protection Act” was out of the organization’s control.

Ten days after the AUL gala, Yoest will set sail as a guest speaker on a National Review-sponsored cruise.

As of yet, Perry has not signed the Susan B. Anthony List’s highly-publicized anti-abortion pledge, but in other ways, Perry has already presented himself as an ardent abortion opponent and dedicated evangelical Christian. Perry’s relationship with AUL has been positive since he became governor of Texas in 2000. When AUL released its annual “Defending Life” publication of model legislation, Perry’s testimony was used to promote the publication:

This state-by-state scorecard of progress in the effort to defend life lets elected officials, grassroots activists and citizens know exactly where we are on our shared priority. I am proud that the report reflects the sweeping reforms we have enacted in Texas, saving thousands of lives in the process. This is not a book you leave on the shelf to collect dust. This information is ammunition in a fight that is far from over. I know you will find this guide informative and useful as you continue to promote and protect life in your state.

In AUL’s latest “State of the States” report card, Texas ranked fifth — making it one of the most restrictive states regarding abortion rights.

In May, Perry signed a controversial Texas bill into law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours after seeing a sonogram of their fetus. The law is facing litigation. He also signed into law a bill making “Choose Life” license plates available to Texas drivers, directing the revenue from those plates to state crisis pregnancy centers.

According to a recent analysis by NARAL Pro-Choice America about Perry’s abortion-related legislative record, “many of the laws he signed inject political interference into women’s private decision-making.”

Among the highlights of Perry’s record, NARAL noted that the governor signed a proclamation declaring April 2009 “Abortion Recovery Awareness Month” in Texas.

“When I learned they were going to play that video, I was a bit chagrined,” McCotter said as an opening statement and in reference to a campaign video that featured him playing guitar in a cornfield.

“In my mind’s eye, I have a full head of hair.” he explained to the audience’s laughter.

The remainder of his remarks — very similar to his Iowa stump speeches — were not built for such friviolity.

In discussing the economy, he noted that “the only thing too big to fail in the U.S. are the sovereign American people.”

“That is why I have no doubt that you recognize the future is not big government, it is self-government,” he said.

McCotter believes that government cannot just be cut or shrunk, but that it — and especially entitlement programs and regulatory agencies — must be “restructured for the 21st century.” He says that Republicans understand the fallacy of the “welfare state” is the temptation of false security that takes a person capable of “the dignity of self-reliance” and makes that person dependent upon government.

“You cannot empower an individual by making them dependent on another person,” McCotter said, repeating a phrase he has often used at Iowa events.

“You are the masters of your fate, and you are the custodians of the legacy of liberty. … The lamp of liberty which you cradle in your humble hands will be bequeathed to future generations … and you will trod the road to happier times.”

If elected as president, McCotter pledged not to work for “the pundits, the bundlers or the powerful.”

“I will work for you,” he promised.

“As you know, many people like to pretend there is a divide between economic conservatism and social conservatism,” McCotter said while standing beside the Values Voter Bus in Sioux City.

“We understand that we can only have a prosperous economy if we have a virtuous citizenry.”

McCotter explained, as he has previously in Iowa, that government must be restructured for the 21st century, and, specifically, that entitlement programs must be cut or completely phased out.

The Values Bus Tour is being organized by the National Organization for Marriage, the Susan B. Anthony List and Family Research Council Action’s Faith Family Freedom Fund. The groups are being joined at various stops along the tour by social conservative Iowa groups as well. All the groups, state and national, hope to make their presence known in the state during the lead-up to the Ames Straw Poll on Saturday and, ultimately, into the 2012 Iowa caucuses.

Specifically the groups have rallied against legalized abortion and civil marriage for gays and lesbians, subjects that remained on the fringes of McCotter’s speech.

A video clip, uploaded by the McCotter presidential campaign, is embedded below

“It was from that position that I was later intrusted with responsibilities that are so often overlooked by many — to be a party chairman in Wayne County, Michigan. And, from there, I was later honored to be a member of the State Central Committee of the Michigan State Republican Party,” McCotter told a multi-county gathering of Iowa Republicans at Clear Creek Amana High School.

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter’s speech was the first time many Iowans had an opportunity to see him in person. For the introduction, McCotter praised GOP activists from the past and challenged current activists for the future. (Photo: William Dahlsten/Linn County GOP)

“So believe me when I tell you this, your job is not thankless. It is indispensable. Because you, as Republicans, are the heirs to the party of Lincoln and Reagan. … As their heirs, you will again be confronted with a momentous challenge. Because we live amidst the crucible of liberty where you will be called upon to define freedom for future generations. And, unlike some, you will not shrink from this duty, you will embrace it because, as Republicans, it is what we’ve always done and it is what we will continue to do.”

The current generation of Americans, he said, are facing challenges similar to those faced by the Tom Brokaw-named Greatest Generation — moving forward in a new economic society, facing an enemy, realizing communism is a strategic threat and wondering whether or not our Constitution can survive relativism — but today’s society has the added complication of facing these four challenges simultaneously.

“My fellow Republicans, make no mistake, liberty and self-government — as they were in 1860 and as they were in 1980 — are the wave of the future in 2012,” he said. “That is why we will be called upon to make a change in this administration; not only because Barack Obama is nothing more than Jimmy Carter in a better suit, but … [because we understand government] has to be restructured for the 21st century. And the principle that will begird the restructuring of the federal government will be simply this, and one we learned from presidents from Lincoln to Reagan: The welfare state takes individuals who can help themselves and tries to make them dependent on government.”

That basic premise is why McCotter believes recent health care reforms are “out-dated and immoral.”

“[Y]ou cannot empower an individual while making them dependent upon another one,” McCotter explained, adding that the government safety net must return to a time when it helped those that cannot help themselves and provides temporary assistance “to those who want to once again return to the dignity of self-reliance.”

While never exactly stating what he would do, if elected President, or what the immediate actions of a McCotter administration might be, the Michigan Republican spoke more generally about what “the next President” or “the next administration” would need to tackle in order to preserve the country.

“We know that not only self-government, but the voluntary civic associations in which we engage for the common good are critical to the sustenance and the exceptionalism of our free republic. That is why the next administration will ensure that around your hearth of home, and around your civic organizations, you will never see the prehensile hand of a federal bureaucrat, or an activist judge, or an international organization try to come between you and your children, or try to dictate to your community what your new beliefs should be,” he said.

Such allusions were the only references McCotter provided in his mostly introductory address to the numerous social issues around which many state activists have recently rallied, but he also appears willing to build his brand with Iowa’s social and religious conservatives.

This week, which is the lead-up to the much hyped Ames Straw Poll, McCotter will travel alongside a Values Voter Bus Tour organized by nationally-known social conservative organizations that oppose gay rights. At the straw poll, McCotter, an avid musician, will be joined on stage by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses who is believed to have garnered much of his support from the state’s Evangelical community. The treat of choice at the McCotter straw poll presence will be Blue Bunny Ice Cream, an Iowa-based company that has recently come under scrutiny and boycott for political contributions made by its executives to Bob Vander Plaats and a religious conservative PAC that fought and continue to fight against marriage rights for gays and lesbians in Iowa.

Listen to McCotter’s full remarks at The Iowa Independent.

The plan was passed over objections from Democrats who hold the minority in both houses of the legislature.

“Governor Snyder’s decision today to sign into law politically and racially gerrymandered redistricting maps, breaks his promise to voters that he would be a moderate and bipartisan governor. Just like 10 years ago, Republicans have used the redistricting process to tip the scales in their favor by disenfranchising voters. Voters deserve fair and competitive districts. Voters should be the ones who pick their elected officials – these maps instead allow elected officials to pick their voters,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. “These bills were rammed through the Legislature with little public notice and no public input. The Republican Legislature ignored alternative maps which better complied with both state and federal law. We are extremely disappointed in Governor Snyder for not standing up for a fair, transparent, and bipartisan process which would have given voters a choice and a voice. Governor Snyder and the Republicans have instead ignored the needs of the voters with these politically and racially gerrymandered maps.”

In a bill signing statement, Snyder ignored criticisms of the plan, instead issuing a statement touting his job creation rhetoric.

“At our peak, we had 19 seats in Congress. We only have 15 today and next year we are going to drop to 14 because Michigan was the only state in the nation to actually lose population over the last decade. This clearly shows why we need to fundamentally reinvent Michigan as place where businesses can grow and create jobs and people can raise a family.”

The new map pits Democrats Rep. Sander Levin against Gary Peters in the new 9th Congressional district. Levin issued a press statement on Tuesday attacking the new plan.

“It is highly disappointing that Gov. Synder rubber-stamped the Republican gerrymander of congressional districts for the next 10 years in Michigan. I testified against this map in Lansing and I will actively support every feasible effort to challenge the legality of this decision,” Levin said in the press release. “If legal challenges are unsuccessful in overturning this map, I will run for reelection in the proposed 9th District, which contains three-quarters of the district that I now represent. I will continue working to get our economy back on track, and as we address the deficit I will work to prevent Republicans in Congress from ending Medicare, undermining Social Security, cutting unemployment insurance, and turning back the clock on programs vital to middle class families in our area.”

The new plan also moves Calhoun county into the 3rd Congressional district represented by Republican freshman Rep. Justin Amash and away from Republican Rep. Tim Walberg in the 7th. That move should make the 7th district more conservative than it was in 2008 when President Barack Obama was on the ticket and Mark Schauer was elected to congress as a Democrat. Schauer replaced Walberg in 2008, and in 2010, Walberg replaced Schauer.

Mark Grebner, chair of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and principal inPractical Political Consulting in East Lansing, says the new maps may favor Republicans, but that is par for the course. Traditionally, such maps are drawn by the political party in control and this year it’s the GOP.

“They did the best they could to screw us within the legal bounds,” said Grebner, a Democrat.

As for the change in the make up of Amash’s district, Grebner says it is conceivable Democrats could take Amash out in November 2012.

“Conceivably but you have to have an actual candidate there,” the consultant said. “The Kent county GOP is doing less well in that area. The county has moved left, leaving the right wing and certain other parts of the GOP undermined. Over time this district will go further away from the GOP.”

As for long-shot Republican presidential candidate Thaddeus McCotter, Grebner says the 11th district will remain pretty safe for McCotter but that his run for the White House may hurt his chances.

“There’s no better way to undercut yourself for re-election than to run for president,” said Grebner.

SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser went on CNN’s In the Arena on Thursday and said there was “vagueness” when it comes to the abortion-rights positions of Huntsman, as well as Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, who both also refused to sign SBA’s pledge.

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” Dannenfelser said in response to the host’s insistence that all three candidates had stated their commitment to “pro-life” agendas.

Despite his refusal to sign pledges in general, Huntsman was the first presidential hopeful to respond to a presidential “Family 2012″ challenge from the South Carolina Focus on the Family affiliate Palmetto Family Council, saying in a letter that he would make restricting abortion rights a prominent part of his campaign.

GOP presidential hopefuls Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Newt Gingrich, Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) have attached their names to a promise to nominate federal judges that do not “legislate from the bench” as the SBA List puts it; to appoint only “pro-life” cabinet members, particularly those who would head the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health & Human Services; to advance “pro-life” legislation and defund Planned Parenthood; and to sign into federal law the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”

Asked if the pledge “marginalizes this as a wedge issue when so many people are focused on jobs and the economy,” Dannenfelser responded:

[W]hat this does is to put to rest to the extent that it needs to be where each of the Republican candidates, and any candidate, where they sit in terms of the pro-life position. Once we know — and the voters deserve to know what their position is — then it can be weaved into the context of all the other issues that America is talking about right now. When it is a problem is when there is vagueness.

During the brief interview, Dannenfelser also explained the SBA List’s legislative strategy behind the wording of the pledge, specifically in the insistence that candidates commit to appointing people with anti-abortion rights views to specific cabinet positions:

What anybody who is a pro-life president will do is advance pro-life legislation. Once that legislation is passed and signed into law, an attorney general, who is a team member’s job will be to defend that once it has been enjoined, which almost all of it will surely be enjoined by pro-choice activists and it is an attorney general’s job also to vet judges. And abortion comes as a central subject of conversation in almost every federal judge and Supreme Court judge nomination process, so an attorney general is vital in pursuing the pro-life agenda.

Watch the interview:

Here is a transcript from the folks at Think Progress:

LIDDY: Is there any chance that you fellas can talk to [House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred] Upton and get our light bulbs back, for heaven’s sake?

McCOTTER: Yes, yes. I saw that some on the left were praising the end of the incandescent bulb, at the very time they’re talking about an innovation economy. The irony is striking. One of the greatest innovations in American history was the incandescent bulb and I think we got to put it back where people can use them again.

I’m afraid the irony has been reversed here. First of all, incandescent light bulbs have not been banned. A provision in the 2007 energy bill sponsored by Upton phases in a requirement that light bulbs be at least 25 percent more efficient than they currently are. The incandescent bulbs currently in use do not meet that standard, but the requirement will, of course, spur more innovation to ensure that they do.

Secondly, the bulbs on the market that do meet that new efficiency standard — compressed flourocarbon, or CFL bulbs — were invented by an American, Ed Hammer of General Electric. And they save on energy and last longer than incandescent bulbs. Sounds like American innovation to me.