Pressing Issues: Rocking the Vote in Key New York Race

By: Greg Mitchell John Hall is having a hard time speaking in sound bites on the campaign trail as he presses his bid for a congressional seat in upstate New York. He compares it to his musical priorities, saying he'd rather play guitar "in a jam session than in a three?minute song." As a listener, he also prefers long album cuts to singles. "One of the things wrong about political discourse in this country," he says, "is that it's conducted via the media in sound bites. But the public may not want to hear anything longer ? in politics, or in music."

Hall has impressive credentials in both fields. He was leader and

chief songwriter for the veteran rock group Orleans, known for such hits as "Still the One" and "Dance With Me." He's written numerous songs covered by other artists, such as Janis Joplin ("Half Moon") and Bonnie Raitt, produced albums by Raitt and others, and has recorded several solo albums.

But for decades he's also been active politically. He was one of the chief organizers of the fabled "No Nukes" concert in 1979 (you can rent the film on DVD) and provided its theme song, "Power." He later led local environmental and zoning fights, and won election to the Ulster County legislature and the Saugerties, N.Y., school board.

So it's not that odd that this year he decided to take on a six-term Republican incumbent, Sue Kelly, in New York's sprawling 19th congressional district. Once a long shot, Hall is now the favorite to win the Democratic primary on Sept. 12. And with Republican fortunes supposedly falling around the U.S., he has a decent shot at an upset in November.

Until recently, I hadn't seen Hall in years. But he wrote for Crawdaddy magazine when I was there in the 1970s (including a cover story on Stevie Wonder), and even then he seemed unusually intelligent and articulate ? especially for a guitar picker. Now he's got Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Earle, Roseanne Cash, Pete Seeger, and others playing benefits for his campaign.

When I chatted with him in mid- August, I wondered how the local press was treating him. "I can't complain too much," he said, "although the incumbent can put out five press releases a day and they are likely to print at least one of them. When I put out a press release, it's a fight to get it into print unless it's about a major endorsement ? or money. Like elsewhere, the media here seem to be more interested in that than who has the best ideas on health care, getting out of the war, or promoting renewable resources."

Hall said his campaign recently created a 35-page proposal on transforming the region's troubled Indian Point nuclear power plant into an alternative energy center. They delivered it, in hard copy or PDF, "to every campaign reporter and editor in the district and I have not seen a single word written about it," he noted. "It disappeared into a black hole."

Still, Hall recognizes that his musical background is both the biggest obstacle ? and a tremendous aid ? in gaining majority support in the district.

His main beef is that reporters tend to identify him solely as "musician John Hall" or "Orleans founder John Hall" when they could say instead, or in addition, "former school board president" or "county legislator" or "community activist." He's proud of his musical work, "but when people are considering whether to vote for me or a 12-year incumbent, I'd like them to know that I'm a serious person involved in the community and environmental affairs, and not just a guitar player." On the other hand, he admits he's raised large sums of money and received a lot of press coverage surrounding concerts with big stars, as well as stories ? because of his music career ? in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone.

"All musicians and politicians will tell you the same thing about being misquoted or misinterpreted," he said. "Those of us in both fields who tend to go on at great length realize we leave more for the press to edit." Hall's been advised to speak in shorter bursts and claims he's getting better at it, but he adds, "I can't say I like it."

In the final days of the 2004 presidential campaign, Hall saw a clip from a Bush rally in Columbus, Ohio, aired on Lou Dobbs' CNN show and was appalled to hear "Still the One" playing in the background at the event. His permission to use it had not been sought or given. After wide press coverage via the AP, the Bush campaign promised to cease and desist. So John Hall can make one claim most already-elected Democrats cannot: He got President Bush to back down at least once.