Mike Gravel to Formally Endorse Bernie Sanders' Campaign

[Uncle Joe]

Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel is formally winding down his meme-heavy presidential campaign and will endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) bid on Monday.

The 89-year-old, who was cajoled into running an almost exclusively online campaign by teenagers David Oks and Henry Williams, filmed an endorsement video for Sanders on Sunday. Gravel spoke with Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir before coming to the decision to make a formal endorsement and is planning to speak with Sanders himself in the coming days.

(snip)

Gravel, who is perhaps best known for putting the Pentagon Papers in the public record, has previously praised both Sanders and Gabbard. "In my mind, the ideal group would be either Bernie as president or Tulsi as president and Bernie as vice president,” he said in a May interview. Additionally, according to Oks, the former senator has spoken with Marianne Williamson, the author and presidential candidate, and is in talks to speak with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Oks added that Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur turned presidential candidate, has Gravel’s number and “is free to call whenever.”

Earlier this week, Gravel’s Twitter account, managed by the teenagers, announced that the campaign was formally closing up shop. They had received the required 65,000 donors necessary to appear in the recent July debate in Detroit. But because the Democratic National Committee capped the number of candidates at 20, Gravel was kept off the stage. In July, they used some of the money they raised to get an anti-Joe Biden ad on MSNBC and some local Iowa networks.

(snip)


https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-gravel-to-formally-endorse-bernie-sanders-campaign

[Celerity]

1. quelle surprise nt

[NurseJackie]

2. But will he support the actual Democratic nominee?

[appalachiablue]

3. Very interesting, thanks for this Uncle Joe. K & R

[zentrum]

4. Has guts.

[JI7]

5. lol

[Princetonian]

6. What's up with his putting out anti-Joe Biden ads @ "MSNBC and some local Iowa networks"?

[HerbChestnut]

7. Welcome to political campaigns...

[Princetonian]

11. What does that mean?

[HerbChestnut]

13. Politicians and political organizations release negative ads on opponents all the time.

It's a traditional part of campaigning.

[Princetonian]

14. Not at this point in the cycle. And you said yourself his is not a serious campaign.

No one else has run a commercial against another Democratic candidate much less the frontrunner.

[JI7]

8. did you think he was running to actually try to win the nomination himself ?

[Princetonian]

12. Not sure what you are getting at?

[IronLionZion]

9. What happened to the Gravelanche?

[HerbChestnut]

10. It was never a serious campaign.

The guy is 89, and he had two teenagers running his campaign. All he wanted to do was promote a progressive message. When he was denied a spot at the debates (despite meeting donor requirements) he decided to "drop out".

[NurseJackie]

16. It was a vanity campaign. He had ZERO chance of being the nominee and he knew it.

It was a vanity campaign. He had ZERO chance of being the nominee and he knew it. Also, he wasn't even a viable choice for VP running mate, or even for a cabinet position. I hope he lives long enough to see our party's nominee sworn in as the 47th president with President Pence looking on.

[brooklynite]

15. So, he thinks we need a younger candidate?

[Uncle Joe]

17. A more progressive candidate.

[Gothmog]

18. Gravel is also endorsing Gabbard

Link to tweet

[Hortensis]

19. As long as he's out of the race.

His endorsement might have been something of a "huh, why?" to some candidates, but I can't think of a better candidate to pick up and carry Gravel's flag for hog-killing. (I hope he assigns Nina Turner to it.)

Link to tweet

You GO, Gravel.