Bruce Springsteen to blame as candidate calls time on campaign

Bruce Springsteen may have inadvertently robbed Co Clare of a future political leader.

Kilrush local election candidate Joe Coughlan (Ind), who famously presented the Boss with a giant-size Irish passport during his sold-out Thomond Park concerts in July of last year, has decided to call time on his election campaign, after meeting with Springsteen in Nashville last week.

Mr Coughlan originally announced his decision to run for a seat on Clare County Council in February of this year. Launching his campaign, he said it was time for him to either "put up or shut up" and said that he was "tired of seeing people running [for election] again and again".

However, after meeting Springsteen after a concert in the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville last Thursday, he has decided to pull the plug on his political career. Mr Coughlan has now seen Springsteen in concert on more than 50 occasions and has decided that becoming a member of Clare County Council would hamper his ability to follow his musical idol.

"I’ve been away in Nashville for a couple of days and I met him [Springsteen] after I saw him in concert last Thursday. It hit me after I met him over there, this is the kind of thing that I wouldn’t be able to if I was elected," he said yesterday.

"I didn’t ask him about it [the election]. But, to be honest, I didn’t want to run just for the sake of it. If I was going to be a politician then I wanted to be 100% committed to it."