Cleary considering federal comeback

A journalist who made a splash in a St. John's-area riding in 2008's federal election is thinking about a return engagement.

Ryan Cleary, a former editor of the Independent newspaper and a former reporter at the St. John's Telegram, placed second in St. John's South-Mount Pearl in the last election.

Cleary told CBC News Friday that the party has approached him about running again, and he is seriously considering it.

Just last October, Cleary said he was "severing all affiliation" with the NDP, so that he could focus on his journalism career.

Cleary took about 40 per cent of the vote in 2008, trailing Liberal candidate Siobhan Coady. Both the Liberals and the NDP benefited from the ABC "anything but Conservative" campaign that then-premier Danny Williams unleashed against Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives.

Cleary was a controversial candidate for the NDP, as he had written scathing commentaries in the past about both the party and its leader, Jack Layton. Cleary, though, said he was comfortable representing the party.