gravel for president?
Maurice Robert Gravel (born May 13, 1930) better known as Mike Gravel, was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Alaska for two terms, from 1969 to 1981. He is primarily known for having put into the public record the Pentagon Papers by entering 4,100 pages of the Papers into the record of his Senate subcommittee on Buildings and Grounds, in 1971. He is currently a candidate for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
Early life
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was raised and educated as a Roman Catholic, but no longer practises, Mike Gravel enlisted in the United States Army in 1951 and served in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 1954. He attended Columbia University School of General Studies and studied economics.
Political career
Gravel served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1962 to 1966. During the last two years of his term, he served as the Speaker of the House. He left that body to run for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing to the incumbent Ralph Rivers In 1968, he ran against incumbent Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, a popular former governor, for his party's nomination to the U.S. Senate, unexpectedly beating him in the primary and going on to win the general election.
During his first term in the Senate, Gravel authored a book titled Citizen Power. In it, he advocated the implementation of numerous populist ideas, including a guaranteed annual income (dubbed the "Citizen's Wage"), public financing of elections, a progressive tax with no deductions or exemptions, steps against the military-industrial complex (which he calls the "Warfare State"), a national law to do away with voter registration and other barriers to voting, abolition of the death penalty, universal health care, school vouchers, a drastic reduction in government secrecy, and an end to what he viewed as an imperialistic foreign policy. The book also contained the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the complete platform adopted by the Populist Party during the 1892 presidential election.
In 1971, the same year that he placed more than 4,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional record, he embarked on a one-man filibuster against a bill renewing the draft. Using various parliamentary methods, Gravel was able to block the bill for five months before President Richard Nixon and Senate Republicans agreed to allow the draft to expire in 1973.
Gravel actively campaigned for the office of Vice President of the United States during the 1972 presidential election. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, he was nominated by Bettye Fairenkemp, the national committewoman of Alaska. The senator then addressed the convention and won 226 delegate votes, coming in third behind Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, who was the convention's choice, and Frances "Sissy" Farenthold, stealing 407 votes from Gravel in a ploy by McGovern who was blocking Gravel from securing the Vice-Presidential nomination.(see [1]).
In 1980, he was challenged for renomination by State Representative Clark Gruening, the grandson of the incumbent Gravel had defeated in a primary 12 years earlier. Gravel was himself defeated in the primary after Jerry Falwell mustered the Christian Right in support of Gruening, who would go on to lose in the general election to Republican Frank Murkowski.
Career after leaving the Senate
Gravel led an effort to get a United States Constitutional amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives. He argued that Americans are able to legislate responsibly, and that the Act and Amendment in the National Initiative would allow American citizens to become "law makers". He and his wife, Whitney, live in Arlington County, Virginia.
In June 2003, Gravel gave a speech on direct democracy at a conference hosted by the American Free Press and the Barnes Review, a journal that denies the Holocaust (see[2]). Gravel later explained he did not know he was also addressing the Barnes Review Group. He spoke only 30 minutes at the event and left. "You better believe I know that six million Jews were killed. I've been to the Holocaust Museum. I've seen the footage of General Eisenhower touring one of the camps ... They're nutty as loons if they [Barnes group] don't think it happened ... Anyone who denies the Holocaust is patently off their rocker — it's a ridiculous position ... and the idea that the [documentary] films were a hoax is just bullshit," Gravel clarified in an interview with Politics1.com (see [3]).
Presidential bid in 2008
On April 17, 2006, Gravel became a declared candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election, announcing his run in a speech to the National Press Club.
Gravel has said that, in addition to his stance on direct democracy (the National Initiative), he will also be emphasizing his support for the FairTax plan and withdrawal from the war in Iraq during his campaign.
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- dave 2-26-2007 7:05 pm
Maurice Robert Gravel (born May 13, 1930) better known as Mike Gravel, was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Alaska for two terms, from 1969 to 1981. He is primarily known for having put into the public record the Pentagon Papers by entering 4,100 pages of the Papers into the record of his Senate subcommittee on Buildings and Grounds, in 1971. He is currently a candidate for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
Early life
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was raised and educated as a Roman Catholic, but no longer practises, Mike Gravel enlisted in the United States Army in 1951 and served in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 1954. He attended Columbia University School of General Studies and studied economics.
Political career
Gravel served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1962 to 1966. During the last two years of his term, he served as the Speaker of the House. He left that body to run for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing to the incumbent Ralph Rivers In 1968, he ran against incumbent Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, a popular former governor, for his party's nomination to the U.S. Senate, unexpectedly beating him in the primary and going on to win the general election.
During his first term in the Senate, Gravel authored a book titled Citizen Power. In it, he advocated the implementation of numerous populist ideas, including a guaranteed annual income (dubbed the "Citizen's Wage"), public financing of elections, a progressive tax with no deductions or exemptions, steps against the military-industrial complex (which he calls the "Warfare State"), a national law to do away with voter registration and other barriers to voting, abolition of the death penalty, universal health care, school vouchers, a drastic reduction in government secrecy, and an end to what he viewed as an imperialistic foreign policy. The book also contained the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the complete platform adopted by the Populist Party during the 1892 presidential election.
In 1971, the same year that he placed more than 4,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional record, he embarked on a one-man filibuster against a bill renewing the draft. Using various parliamentary methods, Gravel was able to block the bill for five months before President Richard Nixon and Senate Republicans agreed to allow the draft to expire in 1973.
Gravel actively campaigned for the office of Vice President of the United States during the 1972 presidential election. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, he was nominated by Bettye Fairenkemp, the national committewoman of Alaska. The senator then addressed the convention and won 226 delegate votes, coming in third behind Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, who was the convention's choice, and Frances "Sissy" Farenthold, stealing 407 votes from Gravel in a ploy by McGovern who was blocking Gravel from securing the Vice-Presidential nomination.(see [1]).
In 1980, he was challenged for renomination by State Representative Clark Gruening, the grandson of the incumbent Gravel had defeated in a primary 12 years earlier. Gravel was himself defeated in the primary after Jerry Falwell mustered the Christian Right in support of Gruening, who would go on to lose in the general election to Republican Frank Murkowski.
Career after leaving the Senate
Gravel led an effort to get a United States Constitutional amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives. He argued that Americans are able to legislate responsibly, and that the Act and Amendment in the National Initiative would allow American citizens to become "law makers". He and his wife, Whitney, live in Arlington County, Virginia.
In June 2003, Gravel gave a speech on direct democracy at a conference hosted by the American Free Press and the Barnes Review, a journal that denies the Holocaust (see[2]). Gravel later explained he did not know he was also addressing the Barnes Review Group. He spoke only 30 minutes at the event and left. "You better believe I know that six million Jews were killed. I've been to the Holocaust Museum. I've seen the footage of General Eisenhower touring one of the camps ... They're nutty as loons if they [Barnes group] don't think it happened ... Anyone who denies the Holocaust is patently off their rocker — it's a ridiculous position ... and the idea that the [documentary] films were a hoax is just bullshit," Gravel clarified in an interview with Politics1.com (see [3]).
Presidential bid in 2008
On April 17, 2006, Gravel became a declared candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election, announcing his run in a speech to the National Press Club.
Gravel has said that, in addition to his stance on direct democracy (the National Initiative), he will also be emphasizing his support for the FairTax plan and withdrawal from the war in Iraq during his campaign.
- dave 2-26-2007 7:07 pm