LIVONIA, Mich. – U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter's meltdown over failing to get the required amount of signatures to make the ballot and then his decision not to run as a write-in candidate has a lot of people talking about running for the Republican spot on the ballot as a write-in.
"It's literally the craziest thing I've ever heard," said veteran political strategist Joe DiSano. "Never seen a candidate commit political suicide quite like this."
The Attorney General is investigating whether fraud was involved in the signature gathering process.
"I think it's a foregone conclusion that someone is going to get charged criminally here," DiSano said. "This is a great opportunity for the Attorney General to show he can go after Republicans and not just Democrats."
In the next 24 to 48 hours Local 4 has confirmed there will be numerous closed-door meetings with GOP decision-makers. Political strategists say the concern for the GOP is too many write-in candidates.
"By having more than one write-in campaign it dilutes the pool and will render a write-in campaign virtually unwinnable," said political strategist Lynn Aronoff.
There already will be a Republican on the ballot. Kerry Bentivolio, a Republican of Milford, had filed to run against McCotter. The relatively unknown candidate now has the best shot of being the GOP nominee despite a hoard of potential write-in candidates.
"I think we easily see a couple of people running as independents, as well," said Aronoff.