Political Frenzy

This is the second post in a team-up with Jeff O’Bryant over at RightNewsAndViews.com. Check out his profile of John McCain!

Name: Mike Gravel

Age: 77

Home Town: Springfield, Massachusetts

Political Positions Held: Congressman in Alaskan House of Representatives (1962-1966), Speaker of the Alaskan House of Representatives (1964-1966), United States Senator from Alaska (1969-1981)

Military History: United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps for 3 years

Accomplishments: Initiated electronic voting in Alaska, ended the Vietnam War Draft, put the Pentagon Papers into public record, ended the Cannikin Tests.

Controversies: When giving a lecture sponsored by Barnes Review, BR expected to interview Gravel about the National Initiative. Instead, Gravel turned around and attacked BR about the fact that they are Holocaust Deniers, calling them “nutty as loons”

Fundamental Platform: Gravel has pushed on many angles for the socialization of social security and medical care. He is also vehemently opposed to nuclear testing. He has stated that one should be able to buy marijuana “in the liquor store”, and is pro-legalization for all drugs because he believes it is a medical problem, not a criminal problem. He argues that if drug addicts are thrown in jail all they do is learn how to be better criminals so we will not catch them once they are released.

Nomination Pros: The youth vote might go to him because of his views on drugs, and senior citizens are likely to identify with him because his grandchildren are featured in his campaign.

Nomination Cons: A pro-legalization platform will probably be hard to get past red states, and many will probably accuse him of talking too much about his grandchildren.

Head to head with:
Vs. Giulani - They’re both pretty left of center, but in different areas. They seem to be evenly matched.
Vs. Romney - Mitt Romeny’s got more attackable weak point, as Mike Gavel’s more vulnerable planks are well defended rhetorically
Vs. McCain - McCain wins hands down due to name recognition and more recent political activity.