Former Presidential Candidate Sues St. Michael’s Student Journalists for Libel

Remember John D. Haywood, the Democrat who challenged President Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary?

Neither do we.

Haywood didn’t get much press in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary — nor did a dozen other also-rans whose names appeared on the ballot. But journalism students of Saint Michael’s College took the time to interview and profile each and every B-lister on the New Hampshire primary ballot in the name of the democracy.

Now one of those candidates — Haywood — is suing St. Mike’s, and the two student journalists who penned his profile, for libel. In a federal lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Burlington, Haywood claims that the article — published online six days before the Jan. 10 primary — contained numerous mis-characterizations about his record and portrayed him as a “bumbling, inept monster.”

Haywood blames the article for costing him the race against Obama; Haywood received just 432 votes, the lawsuit notes, losing to the prez by a ratio of 115 to 1.

And here’s the kicker. Haywood wants the court to award him a metric shit-ton in damages: $1 million to compensate him for “the permanent damage to his reputation” in his home community of Durham, N.C., $50 million in punitive damages, and $120,202 to reimburse what his campaign spent on newspaper advertising. (Because, you know, the college journalism piece totally sunk his White House dreams).

Haywood’s justification for that eye-popping sum? “It is … an amount that will, after taxes, enable Plaintiff to run in 2016 with a cleared name and and [sic] the ability to do the advertising that can perhaps overcome his low 2012 vote count.”

Got something to say?

Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!