Timothy Horrigan endorses John Edwards!

Copyright © Timothy Horrigan 2008

commentary written January 1, 2008


John Edwards at DemocracyFest 2007; Bedford, NH; June 9, 2007


On December 27th, 2007, I sent out a letter endorsing John Edwards for President to several New Hampshire papers. I am not sure if it will get published anywhere: the papers are all glutted with letters. The Portsmouth Herald sent me an auto-reply a few days later indicating that one of its editors had deleted my message unread. Foster's Daily Democrat might run the letter, but they ran another letter of mine (about Barack Obama) in late December.

 [Jan. 3, 2008] It turns out that Foster's did run it, on January 3, 2008— but only on their website and not in the dead tree edition. I was in good company: several noted local activists were also in the online letters to the editor column for this date, including Rep. Bob Perry, Monica Smith , Gail Mitchell and John "JJ" Joyal of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard fame. The original URL (may go dead at any time, like all newspaper URLs) was:

I also placed this letter (this whole web page, really) on DailyKos:


 [Aug. 7, 2010] This page has proven to be inexplicably popular: it gets a steady steam of hits on keyphrases like "candidate endorsement letter." I don't know why. As endorsement letters qua endorsements letters, the two endorsement letters on this page are OK— but they are not exceptional. As candidate endorsement letters, these letters are a fiasco, because Edwards proved to be a disastrously bad candidate.

I will say in my defense, however, that Edwards's ideas were fine, as was his message. His campaign organization was not bad: we had a great field organization and his events (in spite of the problems with the Boxing Day 2006 event in Portsmouth) ran smoothly enough . Edwards's problem was merely that his personal life behind the scenes was out of control.


To the Editor:

When I was in 2nd Grade, I placed a Barry Goldwater bumper sticker on the back of my red wagon, which I pulled all over my neighborhood. I changed parties by the time I was in high school, but I still believe that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! And that is why I am backing John Edwards in the Democratic Presidential Primary: he is committed with all his heart and soul to the defense of liberty and the pursuit of justice. John Edwards does not believe in the tired old Democratic Party politics of triangulation and me-too-ism. He has a strong progressive agenda for rebuilding America and restoring our freedoms. He is the only candidate talking explicitly about halting the hollowing out of our nation's economy. He is the candidate who can best lead us— the American people— into the tough battles which lie ahead of us as we take our nation back from the multinational corporations and the special interests.

Timothy Horrigan
7A Faculty Road
Durham, NH 03824
ph: 1-603-868-3342
email: TimothyHorrigan@mac.com
web: http://www.TimothyHorrigan.com


John Edwards in Rochester, NH; June 2007, with former State Sen. Leo Lessard, and activist Andy Sylvia


My letter was based on a blurb I wrote for the 1st Congressional District delegates' caucuses. (These are used to create lists of potential delegates for each candidate. I finished very far down the list, so I go to Denver this summer only if Edwards wins by a landslide and several people ahead of me on the list decide not to go. Oh yeah, and the candidates he beats would have to drop out of the race altogether rather than merely "suspending" their candidacies.)

Timothy Horrigan

My career in politics began at the age of eight when I placed a Barry Goldwater bumper sticker on the back of my red wagon. Although I still believe that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, I soon realized that I was backing the wrong party. In 1964, Goldwater went on to say, "And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

Although John Edwards is not a radical, he also does not believe in moderation in the pursuit of justice. I am supporting John Edwards because he does not believe in the tired Democratic Party politics of triangulation and me-too-ism. He has a strong progressive agenda for rebuilding America. I am especially impressed with him because he is the only candidate talking explicitly about halting the hollowing out of our nation's economy.

Also, as a person whose career as a writer and information technology professional has mostly been spent in work which is not eligible for health insurance, I am very excited about his strong plan for truly universal health care. I spent several years working in the climatic research field, with the Army Corps of Engineers and with a small consulting firm, and I applaud his positions on green energy and global climate change. More recently, I spent some time working in the educational testing industry, and I agree with Senator Edwards that we need to scrap No Child Left Behind and stop the misuse of standardized testing. I live in Durham, where I am a member of the town party committee. When I previously lived in West Lebanon, I served for a year as the chairman of the City of Lebanon's Democratic committee. In 1988, I was a staffer for the Dukakis for President committee. One of the highlights of my Dukakis experience was being part of the crew which was in charge of visibility on the floor of the Atlanta convention. I would be honored to be a delegate at the Denver convention 20 years later.


John Edwards in Dover Point, NH; October 2007

My endorsement has also been posted on DailyKos :

See Also:



The Forgotten Liars