Mike Gravel, a former United States Senator from Alaska, on April 17, 2006, declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election,^[2] in a speech to the National Press Club.

His campaign gained an internet following and national attention due to outspoken debate appearances during 2007, but consistently showed little support in national polls. In the 2008 Democratic caucuses and primaries, he did not win any delegates. Out of the eight Democratic nominees for president, he received the fewest votes - less than one percent^[3].

In March 2008, Gravel announced that he had joined the Libertarian Party and would seek its presidential nomination, instead of further pursuing the Democratic nomination.^[4] In May 2008, Gravel finished fourth at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention and ended both his presidential quest and his political career.

Campaign development

Gravel has spoken out against the war in Iraq since before the invasion of that country began in March 2003. He drafted his own US Armed Forces Withdrawal From Iraq Act and offered a strategy he claims will get it passed^[5] and unequivocally denounced any war with Iran. His campaign platform is centered on systemic changes to the US system, such as:

• The National Initiative for Democracy, a Constitutional amendment and proposed federal statute that would recognize a fourth branch of the US federal government in addition to the judicial, executive and legislative branches, namely the people, enabled to directly initiate and pass legislation and to amend the Constitution of the United States on their own.
• A national sales tax that would replace the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In addition, Gravel defines the following positions^[6]:

• Global Warming/Climate Change - Gravel believes that global climate change is a matter of national security and survivability of the planet. He supports swift action to reduce America's carbon footprint in the world by initiating legislation to tax carbon at the source and cap carbon emissions. He would also initiate a massive scientific effort, integrating the world's scientific and engineering community, to end energy dependence on oil and integrate the world's scientific community in this task.
• Immigration - While Gravel supports protecting America's borders, he also advocates a guest worker program and naturalization procedures that fairly bring immigrants into legal status. He would also address what he considers to be the root cause of illegal immigration: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
• LGBT Rights - Gravel supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act. He also strongly opposes the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
• Social Security - Gravel wants to put real money, rather than borrowed money, in the Social Security Trust Fund. He advocates investing it properly and identifying the interests of individual beneficiaries so they can know what their retirement fund is and leave surplus funds to heirs.
• Universal Healthcare Vouchers - Gravel advocates a universal healthcare system that provides equal medical services to all citizens, paid for by a retail sales tax (a portion of the Progressive Fair tax). Citizens would pay nothing for health benefits.
• Reproductive Rights - Gravel supports a woman's right to decide if and when to have children and to make the decision about abortion without interference by the government.
• Veterans' Affairs - As President, Gravel would ensure that veterans receive full and unambiguous funding for their most important needs, including treatment for post traumatic stress disorder.
• Education - Gravel supports re-ordering national budget priorities in order to improve the American education system. He supports government funding of education from pre-kindergarten to higher education.
• Prison/Drug Reform - Gravel is greatly concerned by the rising rate of incarceration in America's prisons and sees the War on Drugs as a failure. He seeks to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem.
• Second Amendment Rights - While Gravel fully supports the Second Amendment, he believes that fundamental change must take place with regards to gun ownership. The senator advocates a licensing program where a potential gun owner must be licensed as well as properly trained with a firearm before they may own one.
• Net Neutrality - Gravel supports a free and open Internet with unlimited access to all sites regardless of content. He supports legislation and regulation that keeps citizens in control of their internet usage and promotes free speech.

Internet campaign

Official site

The campaign website includes participation forums. A video section of the campaign website links to videos of some media appearances, his address to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a September 2006 appearance at the 'Camp Democracy' activist forum in Washington DC, as well as the introductory video from his successful 1968 Senate campaign.

The candidate has maintained his own weblog since October 2006, and has blogged at the Huffington Post since June 2007 as well.

YouTube

The Gravel campaign has its own YouTube channel featuring more than 80 videos of the candidate's past speeches and campaign appearances.

A YouTube video of his performance and responses in the South Carolina debate of 26 April 2007 achieved in excess of 226,000 views, and was the 17th most viewed and the 7th top rated video that week.^[7] In late May 2007, two wordless, avant-garde campaign videos, "Rock" and "Fire", created by Otis College of Art and Design staff Matt Mayes and Guston Sondin-Klausner, were released on YouTube and became hits.^[8] The first, nearly three minutes long, showed Gravel staring at the camera silently for more than one minute, then throwing a large rock into a lake and slowly walking away, with a sole graphic showing the campaign website.^[9] The second, nearly eight minutes long, briefly showed Gravel walking through a forest collecting wood and looking at the resultant campfire, then for the remaining seven minutes just showed the fire burning, with the website graphic superimposed.^[10] These videos would eventually gain over 480,000 and 140,000 views respectively.^[9][10]

Switch to Libertarian Party

On March 26, 2008, Gravel announced that he had abandoned his bid for the Democratic Party nomination and would seek the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, stating “I look forward to advancing my presidential candidacy within the Libertarian Party, which is considerably closer to my values, my foreign policy views and my domestic views.”^[4][11]

As a Libertarian candidate, Gravel found more support than he had as a Democrat, placing second and third in two April 2008 straw polls.^[12]

In the May 25 balloting at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver, Gravel finished fourth out of eight candidates on the initial ballot, with 71 votes out of 618; he trailed former Congressman and eventual winner Bob Barr, author Mary Ruwart, and businessman Wayne Allyn Root.^[13] Gravel's position did not improve subsequently and he was eliminated on the fourth ballot.^[13] Afterwards he said, “I just ended my political career. From 15 years old to now, my political career is over, and it’s no big deal. I’m a writer, I’m a lecturer, I’m going to push the issues of freedom and liberty. I’m going to push those issues until the day I die.”^[14]

Campaign finances

Quarterly reports

At the close of the first quarter 2007 reporting period, the campaign committee had $498 in cash against debts and obligations amounting to $88,515. ^[15] By the second-quarter 2007 close, the committee had $31,141 in cash on hand, and had collected a total of $175,229 in net contributions during the entire 2008 election cycle. ^[16] By the end of the third-quarter 2007, the committee had $17,526.55 in cash on hand, and had collected a total of $379,794.85 so far during the 2008 election cycle. ^[17] For the fourth quarter of 2007, Gravel reported no money raised. ^[18]

Mass donation days

Following Gravel's exclusion from most of the Democratic debates, and consequent impairment to his monetary turnover, his supporters began organizing "mass donation days" to help the campaign gain momentum and necessary funds. Such planned days have included:

• October 30, 2007, in response to the exclusion of Gravel from the debate Philadelphia held a day later.^[19]
• December 5, 2007, the anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition;^[20] this day yielded upwards of $10,000 from donations.
• January 1, 2008, using the phrase "Gravel Resolution for Revolution" as a catchphrase and way to publicize.
• January 27, 2008, the anniversary of the end of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War, in light of Gravel's efforts as a senator.

Caucuses and primaries

January 3, 2008 — Iowa caucus

Gravel did not compete in the initial 2008 vote, the Iowa caucuses,^[21] choosing to focus on the New Hampshire primary instead, and received no Iowa state delegates.^[22] Nevertheless, he was still subjected to a false report from Keith Olbermann of MSNBC that he had pulled out of the race afterward,^[23] as had fellow Democratic candidates Chris Dodd and Joe Biden. Later that night, Gravel's campaign issued a press release and YouTube video denying this and making it clear that Gravel intends to continue his campaign and that he does not intend to drop out of the race for presidency.^[23] Keith Olbermann later apologized to the Gravel campaign stating that a man named Alex Colvin, Gravel's press secretary, contacted MSNBC news at approximately 11:30 PM. MSNBC double checked the source and believed the man was who he said he was, and was subsequently read on the air.^[24]

January 8, 2008 — New Hampshire primary

Gravel did focus much of his attention on the second 2008 vote, the New Hampshire primary, and gained some media attention for a pre-election appearance at Phillips Exeter Academy where he told students that using marijuana was safer than drinking alcohol.^[25] In the primary he received 402 votes out of some 280,000 cast, or 0.14 percent.^[26] Gravel said he would take some time off from campaigning to deal with a respiratory infection.^[27]

January 15, 2008 - Michigan primary

Gravel received 2,363 votes out of 593,837 votes cast in the Michigan primary, or 0.40 percent. ^[28] Campaigning was light in the Democratic primary due to an intra-party dispute removing several top candidates' names from the ballot.

January 19, 2008 - Nevada caucuses

Gravel did not reach viability in any of the Nevada caucuses in the state and as a result, received no delegates.

January 26, 2008 - South Carolina primary

Gravel received 214 votes out of 532,468 votes cast in the South Carolina primary, or 0.04 percent.

January 29, 2008 - Florida primary

Gravel finished 8th in the Florida primary, with a little over 5,000 votes. He finished behind 4 candidates who had already withdrawn. ^[29]

The debates

February 21, 2007 – Carson City, Nevada

Senator Gravel participated in the AFSCME Democratic Presidential Forum on 21 February 2007 in Carson City, Nevada, at the Carson City Community Center. He appears toward the end of the video of the broadcast of the event.

In the Carson City Forum, he roundly condemned President Bush's policy of military involvement in Iraq and reminded those present of his statements warning of lies and distortions about Iraq's supposed unlawful weapons of mass destruction as far back as early 2002 (the time of the occurrence of the first signs of the Bush Administration's formulation of an agenda for military action against Iraq). He decried the overall level of military spending as opposed to the funding of education and of what he regarded as the consequent, poor educational outcomes achieved.

Senator Gravel called on Congressional Democrats to force a 'constitutional crisis' by denying all further budgetary appropriations in aid of continued American military involvement in Iraq. He further argued that the income tax should be 'wiped out' in favor of the FairTax proposal - which imposes a progressive sales tax on newly manufactured items varying from 19% to 23% while providing 'prebates' to 'untax' families spending on necessities, up to the poverty level. He stated his view that experience showed income taxes were successfully 'gamed' by the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle income earners. And he voiced his support for the constitutional and legal reform necessary to effect the National Initiative as a means of enabling citizen-initiated national lawmaking.

Senator Gravel also spoke in favor of public financial assistance for campaigning Presidential candidates.

April 26, 2007 – Orangeburg, South Carolina

This debate was in the evening of April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, at South Carolina State University. State party chairman Joe Erwin said that he chose South Carolina State because it is an historically black college, noting that African-Americans have been the "most loyal" Democrats in the state. ^[30] The debate was 90 minutes with a 60-second time limit for answers, and no opening or closing statements.^[31] It was broadcast via cable television and online video streaming by MSNBC. ^[32] The debate was moderated by Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News.

Mike Gravel appeared with the seven other contenders for the Democratic nomination for President and the following are among the points he made in the course of that debate.

• The US war against Iraq was lost when it was begun on a false basis.
• An end to the war could be effected by a bill passed in the House and a Senate filibuster on such a bill defeated by a daily vote on cloture. The way to do so was not lacking but the will was.
• The recent threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike in the "war on terror" was immoral and would be dropped under a Gravel administration.
• All American armed forces who died in Vietnam died in vain and American armed forces in Iraq are dying in vain. As bad as that was and is it is worse to allow American armed forces to continue to die in vain.
• America has no important military enemies. It is the influence of the military-industrial complex that has conditioned us to think of the world in terms of enemies. We ought to view the other nations of the world as equals rather than to try to dominate them.
• A "war on terrorism" will be as unsuccessful as a "war on drugs". In fact the invasion and occupation of Iraq have made terrorism more likely.
• The CIA overthrow of democracy in Iran in the 1950s lies at the root of our problems with that country. The sanctions in place since the US hostage situation in Iran have not had any positive effects. It is a fact that the US is in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that Iran is not.

Gravel gained considerable publicity by shaking up the normally staid multiple-candidate format. Although a May 2007 CNN poll showed him with less than 0.5 percent support among Democrats^[33], by September 2007 he polled 2% support among registered or likely Democratic voters in South Carolina.

June 3, 2007 – Manchester, New Hampshire

WMUR-TV, CNN, and the New Hampshire Union Leader hosted both Democratic and Republican debates in Manchester, New Hampshire, at Saint Anselm College. The Democratic debate was Sunday, June 3, starting at 7 PM EDT and lasting two hours, commercial free. The moderator was Wolf Blitzer, host of Late Edition and The Situation Room. ^[34] He was joined by Tom Fahey of The Union Leader and Scott Spralding from the local NH television station WMUR. The first half of the debate was a directed question and answer, with candidates at podiums, as in the first debate, responding to questions from Fahey and Spralding. ^{[35] [36] [37]}

On March 17, 2007, CNN, the Manchester Union Leader and WMUR-TV formally decided to exclude former Senator Gravel from debates between Democratic Presidential candidates they would be sponsoring in New Hampshire. ^[38] The decision was decried as 'censorship, unbecoming a free society'.^[39] and on 1 May 2007 the decision was reversed, and Mike Gravel was invited to be a participant. The venue was Saint Anselm College and the debate was nationally televised on CNN. ^[40]

Gravel made the following points during the course of the debate :

• Biden, Clinton, Dodd, and Edwards voted for the resolution under which the invasion and occupation of Iraq were undertaken and one (Edwards) co-sponsored it. They must now accept responsibility for what they have done.
• We do not know what will happen in the Middle East after the withdrawal of American troops. The dire predictions that were made about the future of Southeast Asia after the withdrawal of US troops were inaccurate.
• The insurgency in Iraq is successful because it has the support of the Iraqi people.
• The fact that the other candidates knew, or should have known, that there were two "sets of books" being kept on intelligence from Iraq, and that they voted the resolution that authorized the war in spite of that fact indicates that morality plays no part in their political decisions and that lack of moral judgment ought to keep them from the presidency.

Two of eight candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, were accorded greater talk-time than the moderator. Barack Obama was accorded the greatest talk-time at 16 full minutes, 2.85 times the talk-time accorded Mike Gravel, who was accorded the least talk-time at 5.62 minutes.^[41]

June 28, 2007 – Washington, D.C.

PBS held and televised a debate at Howard University, an historically black college. The moderator was Tavis Smiley. All eight candidates discussed various topics including education, poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination, and health in the black community. ^[42][43] The debate drew a record crowd of celebrities, such as Harry Belafonte, Al Sharpton, Dorothy Heights, Jesse Jackson, Terry McMillan, Judge Hatchett, and Mark Ridley-Thomas.^{[citation needed]}

Gravel's points in the debate:

• Gravel said the "war on drugs" was a failure. He asserted that the prison population of the US had increased 1285% over the past 35 years and that 70% of that population is African-American. Gravel compared the legal basis for the war on drugs to Prohibition, claimed that it made criminals of people who otherwise were not criminals, and that they were disproportionately African-American. Gravel said as president he would do away with the war on drugs.
• Gravel explicitly linked the spectacular increase in spending for the war in Iraq with housing and education in the US. He asserted that the money spent on the war in Iraq could have built 4 million houses thus helping victims of hurricane Katrina, or financed 21 million four-year college scholarships, or hired 7.6 million new teachers.
• Gravel said that the income tax code was especially open to corruption. That the tax code was now so complicated and corrupted that no one alive understood it. He said that with his alternative, progressive sales tax proposal everyone would know what everyone else was paying in taxes.
• Gravel said that equal justice before the law would only be possible if the people were empowered as lawmakers.
• Gravel asserted that Free Trade Agreements benefited corporate management and shareholders but hurt most people on both sides to the agreement.

This was the first debate during which all the candidates were accorded equal time. The earlier debates were heavily biased toward the 'Top-tier' candidates.

• PBS Transcript PBS Video, Audio and downloadable Podcast New York Times Transcript CFR Transcript [rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_062807_demsdebate.rm C-SPAN Video]

July 12, 2007 – Detroit, Michigan

All eight candidates attended this debate held during the NAACP convention. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were overheard -- on stage, over microphones -- conferring about weeding those candidates not in the 'Top-tier' out of future debates. ^[44]

July 23, 2007 – Charleston, South Carolina

Main article: CNN-YouTube Presidential Debates

CNN and YouTube held this debate on the campus of The Citadel. All questions were selected from among, and posed as videos submitted via YouTube by members of the public; the debate was moderated by Anderson Cooper of Anderson Cooper 360. YouTube and Google streamed the event live. ^[45] It was also simulcast on CNN en Español.

Two of eight candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, were accorded greater talk-time than the moderator. Barack Obama was accorded the greatest talk-time at 15.18 minutes, 3.64 times the talk-time accorded Mike Gravel, who was accorded the least talk-time at 4.17 minutes.^[41]

• CFR Transcript CNN Transcript CNN Video

August 19, 2007 – Des Moines, Iowa

ABC News in conjunction with the Iowa Democratic Party held a debate streamed on This Week moderated by George Stephanopoulos. ^[46]

During the course of the debate Gravel made the following observations :

• Gravel asserted that the administration was "cooking the books" on intelligence about Iran's nuclear ambitions and capabilities and that the Democrats were again going along with the ruse. He called on the Democrats to pass a Congressional resolution saying that under no circumstance should Iran be invaded. Gravel said that while the administration claims that Iran was trying to destroy our troops in Iraq, in fact the US has been trying to destabilize the government in Iran for the past 25 years. Gravel said that the US had destroyed Iran's democracy and was now looking for an excuse to invade Iran, consonant with Neocon plans going back to 1997. He said that in effect the Democrats were helping Vice President Cheney advance those plans.
• Gravel said that, having itself failed in Iraq, the US was now trying to make the Iraqi people the scapegoats for that failure. He stated further that rather than attacking Iran the US should be turning for help to the Iranians, who had indeed initially helped us defeat the Taleban, and to the Syrians and Saudis as well, all of whom have much more at stake in the region than does the US.
• Asked if he believed in the efficacy of prayer Gravel replied that he believed in love, that love implements courage, and that courage fosters all the other virtues useful in life. Gravel observed that many of the people who pray are the same ones who want to go to war and thus to kill fellow human beings. Gravel said that more love between individual Americans, individual Iowans, would enable more individual courage, and that more courage would enable us to grapple with the problems of governance. Gravel reminded that he had a plan for a National Initiative that would empower the individual as lawmaker.
• Observing that his colleagues had all said that they were in favor of public financing of campaigns Gravel further observed that none of them were limiting their campaigns to public financing in the primary election and questioned their commitment to public financing of political campaigns.
• Observing that although Americans commonly thought of their country as "Number 1" yet America is 46th in the world in terms of literacy, and 30% of American high school students do not graduate, Gravel noted the irony in other candidates' stated intention to increase the money spent on the military in the face of such knowledge. Gravel questioned the real value of "superpower" status and cited Spain, Norway and Finland as countries which educated their citizens at state expense from childhood through PhD level, enabling them and their nations to achieve their full potential.

Five of eight candidates, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, were accorded greater talk-time than the moderator. Barack Obama was accorded the greatest talk-time at 13.17 minutes, 2.7 times the talk-time accorded Mike Gravel, who was accorded the least talk-time at 4.88 minutes.^[41]

• ABC Transcript ABC Video (incomplete, edited, and out of chronological order) [rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/rwh/rwh081907.rm C-SPAN Video]

September 9, 2007 – Coral Gables, Florida

Univision hosted a forum in Spanish at the University of Miami's Bank United Center in Coral Gables, Florida and moderated by Univision's anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas.^{[47] [48]} Joe Biden did not participate in the debate. During the course of the forum Mike Gravel delivered the following opinions :

• Gravel stated that it was wrong that the father of (Pfc. 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment) Armando Soriano (age 20, of Houston TX), killed in Iraq (1 Feb 2004, in Haditha), was about to be deported.
• Gravel reiterated that terrorism is a crime, not a war and that efforts to track the criminals responsible for terrorism against the US were languishing due to the unilateral invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq undertaken by the US.
• Along with the other candidates Gravel committed to immigration reform in his first year as president. Gravel then charged that the national immigration issue was in fact a case of scapegoating immigrants for other systemic problems in the US, in education and healthcare for example. Gravel also admitted that he was embarrassed that the US was building a wall on its souther border.
• Told that 60,000 families had been separated in federal raids, as there are 5 million children born in the US and thus US citizens, and asked if he would as president suspend such raids, Gravel replied that he would. Gravel charged that CAFTA and NAFTA were the real causes of many of the problems on both sides of the US' borders but confessed that he thought remedying those acts would have to await the enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy and the empowerment of US citizens as legislators.
• Asked if he considered Hugo Chavez to be a dictator with whom he would break relations Gravel replied that he did not. Gravel said that instead he would reach out to Chavez in Venezuela and to Castro in Cuba as well. Gravel lamented the US' habit of creating enemies, he cited Iran as a further example, and said that the US needed to open its arms to other nations as friends rather than treat them as enemies.
• Reminded that health problems had forced Gravel into bankruptcy, Gravel was asked how he would apply his personal experience to the problem of healthcare. Gravel outlined his plan for healthcare vouchers, paid for out of general revenues, to be applied against premiums of up to five private plans and one government plan, each with identical defined benefits, each mandated to allow freedom of choice of provider.
• Asked what he thought was the greatest contribution of Hispanics to the US, Gravel said that he thought it was their culture, which imbued the country with a greater depth of human understanding. He encouraged Hispanics to support the National Initiative and to empower themselves as legislators.

All candidates were accorded equal talktimes at the Univision forum.^[49]

September 20, 2007 – Davenport, Iowa

PBS held a forum focused on domestic issues, specifically health care and financial security. It was moderated by Judy Woodruff, and was a joint venture between IPTV and AARP.^[50]Barack Obama rejected PBS's invitation. Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich were excluded from the debate on the grounds that they did not have at least one paid staff member or office space in Iowa.

September 26, 2007 – Hanover, New Hampshire

MSNBC held a debate at Dartmouth College in conjunction with New England Cable News and New Hampshire Public Radio. ^[51]

During the course of the debate Gravel took the following positions :

• In spite of the fact that the Democrats by themselves cannot end a filibuster in the Senate or override a veto in the House they can end the war from the Congress by voting every single day, non-stop, on cloture in the Senate first to send a bill ending the war to the President, and then to override the President's veto in the House. Gravel predicted it would take forty days to do so following that procedure. When asked if he thought the others on the stage should return to Congress and do so rather than continue to campaign for the presidency Gravel replied that he did.
• Gravel remarked that he thought that rather than being concerned with ending the war in Iraq, the Senate was embarked upon empowering George Bush to start another war in Iran. He specifically praised Senators Biden and Dodd for standing up and trying to vote down the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment in question but condemned Senator Clinton for voting for the amendment and Senator Obama for not showing up to vote at all.
• When asked whether he thought local jurisdictions which choose not to prosecute federal laws involving immigration should themselves be penalized for not doing so Gravel replied that the whole nation should be a sanctuary for the rest of the world. Gravel opined that Latinos were bearing the brunt of the nation's frustrations brought on by its failures in education, healthcare, and its squandering of resources on warfare in the Middle East. Gravel said that as an American he was ashamed of the "fence" being built on the nation's southern border.
• When asked his opinion Gravel stated that anyone old enough to fight and die for the nation ought to be able to drink alcohol legally.
• Asked if he would tax gasoline to reduce national consumption Gravel said that he would tax all carbon based fuels to eliminate the politicians' and bureaucrats' playing favorites in the implementation of such a scheme. As well, he offered that he thought it futile to try to get the Congress to pass such a law, that it would instead require his proposed National Initiative and the empowering of the people to do so. Further he said that the nation could eliminate gasoline as an energy source in 5 years and all carbon based fuels in 10 years if it could just summon the will to do so, substituting wind generated electricity, for instance, for nuclear reactors as a source of power.
• Gravel reiterated that "The most important thing in life is love. That's what empowers courage and courage implements the rest of our virtues."

None of the eight candidates were accorded greater talk-time than the moderator, who accorded himself 19.42 minutes of talk-time. Hillary Clinton was accorded the second greatest amount of talk-time at 17.62 minutes, 4.1 times the talk-time accorded Mike Gravel, who was accorded the least amount of talk-time at 4.33 minutes.^[41]

October 30, 2007 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

NBC News announced a debate to be televised on NBC News and MSNBC. The debate was held at Drexel University^[45]. Although all candidates were expected to attend the debate, it was announced on October 19th that Senator Gravel would be excluded from the debate.^[52].

Senator Gravel held a political gathering at Philadelphia's "World Cafe Live"^[53][54] at the same time as, and two blocks from, the Democratic Presidential Debate from which he was excluded. The debate was shown on a large screen, with Senator Gravel providing a running commentary and later answering audience questions. The event was called "An Alternate October 30th" and initially announced on Gravel's YouTube page.

Other campaign activities

The Senator has appeared on C-Span during his campaign speaking about the prospects of war between the United States and Iran. ^[55]

April 17, 2006

His address before the DNC National Winter Conference in February 2007 was enthusiastically received and has been broadcast on C-Span. ^[56] In speaking he offered harsh judgments against President Bush and the Senate Democratic leadership, and implicitly his Presidential rivals Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards:

"The decision to invade Iraq, without provocation, was fraudulently sold to the American people by a President consumed with messianic purpose. The Democrats controlled the Senate on October 11, 2002 and provided political cover for the President to invade Iraq [so that] political calculations trumped morality. Given the extreme importance of any decision to go to war, anyone who voted for the war on October 11 based upon what President Bush presented to them is not qualified to hold the office of President of the United States. … We must bring our troops home NOW, not six months from now. … The Democrats in control of Congress need to act resolutely, and I'm not talking about some mealy-mouthed non-binding resolutions. They need to precipitate a constitutional confrontation [with the President]."

June 27, 2006

Senator Gravel was interviewed for the Blue State Observer weblog on June 27, 2006.^[57] On that occasion he expressed his support for constitutional change in aid of citizen-initiated legislation, he declaimed the existence of limitations upon the conduct of stem cell research, and stated he was against the widespread deportation of illegal immigrants then being advocated by conservative talk radio and other elements.

August 23, 2006

A media release draws attention to the candidate's public opposition to the prospect of war in Iraq expressed as long ago as the early months of 2002.^[58]

The campaign and/or candidate have attracted notable coverage inThe New York Times, The Reno Gazette-Journal, on CBS News, on ABC News, in The Progressive, and in The American Spectator,

Among other sources of news and commentary, the campaign notes coverage and appraisal of its candidate by The Free Liberal, 'CrooksandLiars.com', the New York Daily Star, AntiWar Radio, the Ed Schultz Show, Internationalist Magazine, the Roanoke Times, American Chronicle, DailyKos.com, The Dartmouth Online, Blue Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Herald.^[59]

November 2006

Senator Gravel delivered an address before the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in November 2006 which has been recorded and published on video. ^[60]

February 2007

Gravel was interviewed on MSNBC in conjunction with his appearance at the Democratic National Convention Annual Winter Meeting.^[61] He reiterated his ideas and campaign themes including speedy withdrawal of the US military from Iraq, and expressed his relish to be participating in four debates in the ensuing 30 days.

At the time of the DNC Winter Conference he has also appeared as a guest of a video weblog directed from New Jersey answering questions about netroots and the blogosphere.^[62]

Senator Gravel was interviewed on Toniq TV where he forthrightly expressed views supporting the lifting of restrictions against the service of identified gays and lesbians in the US military.^[63] Calling comparison to President Harry S. Truman's racial desegregation of the US military in 1948 he criticized former President Bill Clinton as 'dead wrong' and 'mousy' for his innovation of the don't ask don't tell policy covering homosexual conduct by military members:

"When Clinton got to be President, well, the first he's doing is standing there on two legs waffling back and forth, oh, don't tell us you're gay. What are you talking about? If you had any knowledge of history, ancient history, in Sparta they encouraged homosexuality because they fight for the people they love. And if it's your partner and you love them, you're prepared to die for them, and that's the same ethic you see in the military today. It's not the country. It's my partner. Go see the movies on war, and it's always the person next to me who is in my foxhole with me. Well, I got to tell you, extend that a little further and you'll see why the Spartans trained their people to be homosexuals, because they're better fighters."

February 11, 2007

The Senator addressed the Jefferson County Presidents Day Dinner in Watertown, Wisconsin.^[64]

February 13, 2007

The Senator released a statement outlining his views on the possibility of impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush, regarding it as 'not sufficient' and favoring a congressional inquiry which could ultimately lead to criminal charges being brought against the President.

February 26, 2007

Senator Gravel was interviewed about his campaign on the American C-SPAN network's Washington Journal program.^[65]. A press release on this same day spelled out his support for the recognition of same-sex marriages and other aspects of gay civil rights. It said:

"Senator Gravel:
* Unequivocally supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act.
* Supports expanding hate-crime legislation and opposes laws that allow discrimination against sexual orientation, as well as discrimination on the basis of one's gender identity or expression.
* In the absence of full marriage rights, supports domestic partner benefits for all Americans.
* Will repeal the military's 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, as it restricts the rights of gay Americans.
* Opposes any state or national constitutional amendment that restricts the rights of the LGBT community." ^[66]

March 1, 2007

A release called upon Congress to use its 'constitutional authority' to outlaw the practice of torture against captured enemy combatants. ^[67] The release referred to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution, which reads, 'The Congress shall have power to… declare war… and make rules concerning captures on land and water.' It also criticized the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) practice of not providing the information of certain of its prisoners in overseas jails to the International Red Cross.

May 2, 2007

He appeared as a guest interviewee of Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report.

August 4, 2007

The Yearly Kos Presidential Leadership Forum was held in Chicago, Illinois. This informal discussion was attended by seven of the eight presidential candidates, with Joe Biden not attending due to votes in Congress. New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai and DailyKos Contributing Editor and Fellow Joan McCarter moderated. The debate was broken down into Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy, and Philosophy and Leadership. Candidates were alloted 90 seconds for each question with 45 second rebuttals, although the time limits were not strictly enforced. After the debate, breakout sessions were held where convention goers could question each candidate individually.

Mike Gravel on the shortcomings of representational government :

"You know what first comes into their mind? How does this affect my election and re-election. You now what the second thing is that comes into their mind? How does this affect the people who put up the money to get me here and keep me here. You know what's the third thing that comes into their mind? How does it affect the party, because if the party's got power I got power. I haven't even touched the people's interest and I'm at the fourth level. I haven't mentioned ideology or outright corruption. So the only answer is for you to realize that the answer is not up here on the dais, the answer is with you, the American people, to acquire lawmaking powers."

Mike Gravel on how the war could be ended, if there were intention to do so :

"You have to appreciate what they say when they say they don't have the votes in the Senate. They do have the votes in the Senate all they gotta do is know how to go get 'em. And how you go get 'em is not with one cloture vote, you have a cloture vote at noon on the first day, second day, third day… on weekends… cut out the August recess… just vote on cloture until they get the votes. That's all it takes. And that's not what they're doing. And if they're not doing what is possible it must be because they don't want to do it. And then you have to analyse why they don't want to do it… What we need to do is to bring our troops home, and then we can bring about peace in the world."

Mike Gravel on the effect of the concentration of the media and of money in politics :

"You gotta keep in mind that all politicians sort of walk in the mud. You know their head may be up here but they walk in the mud. And you have to understand that, because of the way the system is structured, you have to raise money. We're raising hundreds of millions of dollars on this dais for these people to talk to you, when we all know that money is the corrupting agent of politics, and lo and behold the media, which is now controlled in this country by five corporations, is telling us that these people who raise the most, who technically are the most corrupt, are the ones that should get to be elected."

• PoliticsTV @ Yearly Kos '07: Mike Gravel, TPMtv: Yearly Kos Chapter 18

August 9, 2007

Mike Gravel participated in an LGBT network Logo hosted debate focusing on LGBT issues, moderated by Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese and singer Melissa Etheridge in Los Angeles, California. Mike Gravel was originally excluded from this debate, the reason given that his campaign had not raised enough money to qualify for participation. Rallying from Gravel's supporters reversed this decision. ^[68]

• Chicago Sun-Times Transcript The Visible Vote '08 Video

September 12-13, 2007

Yahoo!, in partnership with The Huffington Post, produced a "mashup debate" with Charlie Rose interviewing the candidates. Segments were recorded on September 12, with the "mashups" posted on September 13.^[69]

• interactive mashup site

October 1, 2007

On October 1, 2007, Gravel was interviewed on PBS. He described himself as an ordinary guy, and would be more likely to take the train than fly in a private jet. He explained that other leading nations, including Russia, spend just 3%-4% of their budget on defense, while the US defense budget is more than all other nations combined. He then rhetorically asked: "What are we afraid of?" He explained that the defense budget is associated with the military industrial complex. He stated that the US military is internationally competitive, but the US schools and health care system are not. Gravel said that Ralph Nader once referred to him as a "breath of fresh air".

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Mike Gravel

Opinion polls

• In a February 25, 2007 Washington Post/ABC News nationwide poll of voters who lean Democratic, 0% supported Gravel for the Democratic presidential nomination.^[70] Indeed, through February 2007, such opinion polls of contenders for the Democratic nomination all showed Gravel with a 1% or less support level.

• A September 11, 2007 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that, among registered South Carolina voters who plan to vote in the Democratic primary or usually vote for Democrats, 2% would vote for Gravel "if the presidential primary were held today".^[71] Candidates Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, and Bill Richardson each got 1% of respondents to that question. Additionally in the same poll of South Carolina voters, in response to the question, "Regardless of your choice for president, who do you think has the best chance of beating the Republican candidate in November…?" Gravel polled 2%, compared to 1% for Joe Biden and Bill Richardson, and 0% for Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich.

• A September 27-30, 2007 American Research Group Poll showed Gravel with 2%, tied with Joe Biden and ahead of Dennis Kucinich.

None of the major polls are currently including Gravel's name in their polling. ^[72]

Despite poor polling numbers, Gravel has positive support among young people and Internet users, however his lowest support comes from the constituency. Blind polls have suggested that he would garner much more voting support if his positions were more well known. ^[73]

Endorsements

Senator Gravel has won the endorsement of campaign finance reform activist Doris Haddock^[74] and has received financial contributions from actor Mark Ruffalo.

Noted academic and political dissident Noam Chomsky has also endorsed Senator Gravel. ^[75]

In an unusual cross-party gesture, even while still running for the Democratic nod, Mike Gravel endorsed a Green Party candidate for president in March 2008, Jesse Johnson of West Virginia,^[76] saying he wanted to help Johnson prevail against Green Party rivals Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader.^[77]

Notes

External links

Campaign and milestones

• Gravel for President
• Gravel2008 Youtube Channel
• Announcement of Candidacy. National Press Club, 17 April 2006
• First Interview following Announcement. National Press Club, 17 April 2006
• Gravel2008 on MySpace.com - official
• Mike Gravel Presidential Campaign at the Open Directory Project

Interviews

• Blue State Observer — Interview
• Blue State Observer — Scones with the Senator
• Interview with Mike Gravel — The Eisenthal Report: Part 1, Part 2, Analysis
• Interview with Mike Gravel — CitizenPowerMagazine.net
• Mike Gravel on Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton
• Mike Gravel video interview: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
• Answering a question about gays in the military
• Conversation' With Mike Gravel
• Mike Gravel on CNN Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
• Washington Journal interview and call-in on C-SPAN — part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4. Wide range of issues are discussed.
• Interviewed by Harold Channer. Discusses Louis O. Kelso, Binary Economics, National Initiative, and the interplay between the National Initiative, and Binary Economics. The two being the different faces of the same coin.
• Bernie Ward Program KGO Radio San Francisco May 23,2007

Speeches and debates

• MP3 audio of speech delivered at the 2007 Democratic Winter conference in Washington, D.C., February 3, 2007. [3]
• A Legislative Plan To End The War In Iraq, May 14, 2007 National Press Club

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