Going gaga for Gravel

[brooklynite]

The Hill

Sometimes, you don’t mean to fall in love. It just happens. With spring in the air and the cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, I confess I find myself falling fast and hard for a new guy on the scene. Well, actually, an old guy who is back on the scene. Or really, an old guy pushed back onto the scene by a group of teenagers.

As Democratic presidential contenders pop their heads up like daffodils after the final winter freeze, one in particular has caught my eye: former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska. If Joe Biden is too young for you, Bernie Sanders too restrained, and Andrew Yang too mainstream, Mike Gravel just might be your guy.

Gravel’s presidential campaign is all YOLO, all the time, which makes sense when you consider that he is 88 years old. He has no intention of becoming president, and has been talked into running by two teenage leftists who tweet on his behalf. In an announcement audiogram posted to Twitter (it’s just audio with a glamour shot of Gravel) he says: “This is Mike Gravel. I’d like to thank, uh, the supporters who are putting up… . No, let me start over.” He then he makes clear (sort of) his goal of amassing 65,000 donors so that he can qualify for the debates: “I hope that we can meet the goal of 60,000 … no, 650… no, 65,000… .”

Other tweets spell out that Gravel’s goal is to make the debates, push the field to the left, and then drop out and endorse the most progressive candidate. Gravel, who famously read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record, doesn’t want to be president. He wants to destroy the Overton Window that has locked Dems into a conventional political debate. And I’m here for it.

[rampartc]

1. mike gravel is a national treasure

my thanks to the teenagers who "discovered"him.

the senator is running to call attention to the issue of peace. that us something we all should embrace!