I remember him floating this idea awhile back but figured it was just a bit of media-baiting to raise his profile ahead of a possible Senate run.

Nope.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich. will launch his presidential campaign on July 2, making him the third sitting member of the House to run for the White House in 2012.

McCotter will make his bid official in his home state of Michigan, according to a knowledgable source in the campaign who declined to be identified…

McCotter caused a stir at the Ames Straw Poll campaign space auction last week when he attempted to anonymously secure a key place for the August event, according to The Iowa Republican.

His representative was eventually forced to reveal her client after the other campaigns, who thought the anonymous bidder was for an undeclared candidate such as ex-Alaska governor Sarah Palin or Texas governor Rick Perry.

He spent four days in Iowa this week and, per the Des Moines Register, might be looking to snap up some of the local staffers who jumped ship after the S.S. Gingrich started to capsize. I’d love to tell you which substantive niche he’ll fill in the field once he’s in, but he stands out in my mind more for his stylistic departures from the traditional GOP mold than for his policy stances — with the notable exception of his position on bailouts, where he opposed TARP but backed the GM package. (He’s from Michigan.) He’s sharp, funny, and sufficiently at ease with pop culture to be a perennial on “Red Eye,” so he’s bound to get some attention at the debates. Enough attention to dislodge Bachmann or leapfrog Cain on the conservative side of the field, though?

Romney’s counting on his local pedigree to make the Michigan primary a gimme so McCotter could hurt him there. Then again, Michigan’s tentatively scheduled for February 28, three weeks after Super Tuesday, so Romney will likely either be finished or the prohibitive frontrunner by the time we get to that. Maybe McCotter’s thinking that Carl Levin, who’ll be 80 in 2014, will decide not to run for reelection, and that a presidential run now will help introduce him to Michigan voters statewide ahead of that? Here’s his speech last week to the RLC via Dave Weigel, who notes that “Red Eye” now has its very own presidential candidate. Yeah, big week for Greg Gutfeld, huh?

Update: From National Journal, eight things to know about Thad McCotter. Note numbers six and seven.