Mike's Blog

Mike Gravel speaks to packed out lecture hall at the Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble, France, 8 Oct 2008.  Watch the entire talk on video here:

(YouTube speech here)

When in the course of human events, unattended grievances make it necessary for citizens to reexamine the structure of their government and bring about change.

We were once a great nation, created by immigrants from foreign lands who populated a bountiful continent.

We now witness our nation’s prestige and our domestic liberties considerably diminished.

111 nations signed on to a draft treaty this last month in Dublin, Ireland to outlaw the use of cluster munitions by their military forces. The United States boycotted this conference to produce a humane treaty. Cluster munitions contain dozens to  hundreds of bomblets designed to explode above ground, inflicting maiming and lethal wounds. All battlefield weapons are cruel, but clusters rank up there with land mines––not only for their impact in battle, but more importantly because of their extensive residual damage long after the battlefield is quiet and overgrown.

I have just received word from Skyler McKinley, one of our senior staffers, that Senator Gravel has gotten the required number of delegate tokens to particpate in tonight's C-Span Libertarian debate. The debate will be broadcasted on C-Span 1, beginning at 9-11 p.m. ET.

Senator Gravel will debate the following LP competitors: Bob Barr, Mary Ruwart, George Phillies, Steve Kubby, Michael Jingozian, and Wayne Allyn Root.

Give 'em hell Gravel!

Senator Gravel is making a splash this weekend at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention. Just as in the earlier Democratic debates, Senator Gravel is getting great reaction to his comments.

The following is a report taken off of the Independent Political Report (www.indpoliticalreport.com):

by Mike A. Bozarth

While public attention has been focused on the Obama-Clinton marathon run in the Democratic primaries, another storm has been brewing in the background.

The Libertarian Party's national presidential nominating convention opens in Denver today and lasts through Memorial Day.

Today, Senator Gravel and Wayne Allyn Root, two of the leading Libertarian presidential candidates, debated on Fox Business Channel.  Alexis Glick moderated on her "Money for Breakfast" program.  Below is the video of the debate.

Part 1

On Monday, May 12, 2008, The Libertarian party of West Virginia hosted its annual Libertarian State Convention, a gathering of fellow Libertarians in West Virginia. Following the event, a straw poll was held of the Libertarians in the crowd. Senator Gravel narrowly won the vote, beating out Dr. Mary Ruwart. Below are the results:

On Friday, May 16th, Senator Gravel will be traveling to New York for a Libertarian presidential debate/dialogue with fellow candidate Wayne Allyn Root.   It will be broadcast on Fox Business Channel, moderated by Alexis Glick, and run approximately 30 minutes.  Tune in by 8:05 am EST to catch it.  First segment should run from approximately 8:15 - 8:25 am EST, the second from 8:30 - 8:40 am EST.

Following the second debate at the Indiana Libertarian State Convention, the Hoosier libertarians provided no clarity to identifying the favorites from the crowded field of candidates seeking the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States. Participating in the convention debates were the following:

On Wednesday, April 30, Senator Gravel will hold an event at the College Perk Coffee House in College Park, Maryland from 6-8 p.m. This event is being co-sponsored by the Peace Forum and Community Roots. Below are the event details:

• Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
• Time: 6-8 p.m.
• Location: College Perk Coffee House, 9078 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, MD, 20742

For more information, contact the event coordinator, Heyfa K, at katuru83@hotmail.com

The following three videos are of Senator Gravel answering questions during the Q&A session at the Washington Libertarian State Convention. Thank you to sgrimes for posting these videos on YouTube!

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klr6nOOBs10

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cvpbBPpaVo

As you are well aware, now that Senator Gravel is a Libertarian candidate, his campaigning basically comes down to State Conventions and more State Conventions. The following is his schedule for the coming weeks:

Date: Saturday, April 19

As many of you may already know by reading the forums, a few of us grassroots supporters have decided to schedule a Mass Donation Week/Day in order to give the Senator and his campaign a much needed boost as far as funding goes as he begins his Libertarian run for the White House.

For those who do not know, the Libertarian nomination process is quite different than our traditional two-party system. Before the big day(s) in Colorado, many of the states, if not all, hold State Conventions. These are normally full weekend events, and are basically where the candidates get to plead their case to the Libertarians. Often times, those in attendance are undecided National Convention delegates.