Former Rocker Profiled by 'E&P' Gains Sweep of Newspaper Endorsements in Race for Congress

By: E&P Staff Back in August, John Hall -- former leader of the popular rock group Orleans, now a candidate for Congress in upstate New York -- explained to E&P the challenges he encountered in facing the political press after decades of experiencing music journalism. So, two months later, how is he doing on the newspaper front?

Apparently he's a quick learner, as he has just completed a clean sweep of newspapers endorsements in his district, today gaining the nod of the Poughkeepsie Journal. Earlier, the Democrat had picked up the endorsements of two other moderate papers, the Journal News of Wbhite Plains and the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, as well as the liberal New York Times.

This has all helped Hall draw even with his Republican opponent, the incumbent, Rep. Sue Kelly. On Monday, former President Bill Clinton showed up in person to lend a hand. Hall, referring to his group's biggest hit, declared that Clinton is "still the one." Clinton did not bring his saxophone, nor offer to jam with guitarist Hall, who fronted the group Orleans.

Hall's views comparing political and rock 'n roll press coverage were profiiled by E&P two months ago -- in a column titled "From Soundchecks to Soound Bites" -- when his chances were still in the longshot category. Since then he has swept a Democratic primary and steadily gained on Rep. Kelly.

The national Democratic party last week shifted the Hall-Kelly race into the strong-chance-for-victory rank. Kelly has outspent Hall but the latter has gained fundraising help from musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle and Pete Seeger. Hall is running an antiwar/pro-environment race against Kelly in a usually strong Republican district.

Hall recently appeared on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" when Rep. Kelly turned down the chance. He ended up harmonizing with Stephen Colbert on one of the Orleans hit, "Still the One" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" (the latter available only on YouTube).

Earlier he had told E&P Editor Greg Mitchell, "All musicians and politicians will tell you the same thing about being misquoted or misinterpreted. Those of us in both fields who tend to go on at great length realize we leave more for the press to edit."