Mike Gravel Presidential Campaign, 2008 - Campaign Developments 2007 - First Quarter

First Quarter

Gravel's address before the DNC National Winter Conference in early February 2007 was received – enthusiastically, claimed campaign advocates – and was broadcast on C-SPAN. 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, saying "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." Gravel was interviewed on MSNBC at the time. He also appeared as a guest of a video weblog directed from New Jersey answering questions about netroots and the blogosphere.

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. 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."

On February 11, 2007, the senator addressed the Jefferson County Presidents Day Dinner in Watertown, Wisconsin.

On 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.

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.

On February 26, 2007, Senator Gravel was interviewed about his campaign on the American C-SPAN network's Washington Journal program.

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

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.

Read more about this topic:  Mike Gravel Presidential Campaign, 2008, Campaign Developments 2007

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