Little-known Republican McCotter opens White House bid

Thaddeus McCotter, a guitar-playing Michigan congressman with an independent streak, formally launched a longshot bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination on Saturday.

The conservative McCotter made his formal announcement at an Independence Day rock festival outside Detroit. He filed the paperwork on Friday to enter the Republican race for the right to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama.

“Through your hard work and through your principled determination to bequeath to your children a better America, we will restructure the government,” McCotter told the crowd at the rock festival, where he played guitar with a band. “… What we need in Washington is someone who knows the future is not big government — it is self government.”