Mike Gravel Drops Out of Race :-(

May 26th, 2008 by gravel08nj

An Official Campaign Announcement will come later, until then I'll fill the myspace crowd in first.Senator Gravel has officially ended his bid for the presidency after the Libertarian Party nominated former Congressman Bob Barr as their Presidential nominee and Las Vegas businessman Wayne Allyn Root as their VP choice. Gravel did not seek the VP slot, nor did he endorse a candidate.As the Social Networking Director for the campaign, I want to thank the entire online community for all the work you put in during this campaign, it really did make the difference in pushing Senator Gravel's message. Senator Gravel enjoyed one of the best online followings of any candidate in the race, even when his polling numbers didn't match the enthusiasm of his supporters. It was because of the work we all put in that we made it as far as we did.Senator Gravel will be a Libertarian for the rest of his life, although he acknowledges that his political career is over, although he is taking it very well and even said it was "no big deal." Mike Gravel has always believed that the will of the people should be done. He will continue to work tirelessly on furthering the National Initiative for Democracy (ni4d. us), which was his original motivation for entering the presidential race. He has said that he will continue to be a writer and lecturer. In addition to Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change, look forward to two other books by Senator Gravel already in the works, A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism And One Man's Fight to Stop It and The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy. Both are available for pre-sale on Amazon. com, and you can get an inside look at A Political Odyssey.Here is a short video of Senator Gravel after being eliminated from the field of candidates: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=WDFICinrZN4 In conclusion, thanks again for all the enthusiasm everyone had towards our campaign, it meant a lot to everyone involved. Again, Senator Gravel's driving force in this campaign was the empowerment of the American people through the National Initiative, so please do your best to further the Ni4D in any way that you can. As far as this myspace's future, I'm not sure what we'll do with it; it may become a Ni4D myspace or we may just delete it, we'll see.This campaign has been a success in more ways than one, although sadly not in the literal sense. Just remember the ground we broke and the issues we forced. From the "Rock" video to the excitement of the first debate in SC to the Alternate Debates to the "power to the people vs. give peace a chance" video to the Obama Girl buzz, this campaign has been all over the place, but always maintained its focus on succeeding in empowering the people. It's been incredibly fun getting to know so many of you and I truly have learned a lot during this process, and I can't wait to work with some of you again in the future. Thanks again to everyone, and never give up the fight!Peace,Ben

Comments

I know I'm not the only one...

Submitted on May 26th, 2008 by seventy-one

Who almost had a tear in there eye when they heard the Senator was ending his political career...

I'll definitely be going to some of his lectures, and try to see him at every oppurtunity. He's a living legend, and now a retired living legend.

I was very depressed.

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Ripples

The 25th was my birthday, and Gravel winning would have been the best birthday gift ever! I was hoping I could send him a little luck.

I got a pizza and watched C-Span all morning as the tragedy unfolded.

It would have been so special to have him become a nominee for president #44 on my 44th birthday. I would have taken it as a sign. :)

I was quite depressed today

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Hitsumei

I was quite depressed today because I felt like I worked so hard for Gravel, but right now, we're going to hell in a handbasket with Obama and McCain (I'm voting for Kelcey Wilson in November, but I don't see him winning the election. I just hope that 50 million Americans will vote for the Ni4d soon in order to have some control over the future of this country, in spite of the psychopaths Obama and McCain). I don't know when people will listen to me (while I would campaign, passers-by wouldn't always believe what I said).

I had a tear in my eye for sure.

I hope I can have Gravel as a mentor for my future political career in 2014 (blame the conservative age requirements...will there still be a planet in 2014?). I'm looking forward to his future books and if he lectures in MD, I will certainly make every effort possible to attend.

I want to thank Gravel for telling the truth and for giving people the tools to understand politics and how to solve problems.

Heyfa K.

Gravel 2008 Montgomery County MD director

katuru83@hotmail.com

Yes, it's SCARY.

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Ripples

The planet is changing so rapidly we have no time to mess around. Yet that is what the "most powerful leaders in the free world" are doing with their celebrity worship and big money games. :(

I now go back to having no

Submitted on May 26th, 2008 by crs6785

I now go back to having no one to vote for. I haven't found any other appealing third party candidates that match my views so closely as Mike Gravel. I guess it's back to simply promoting ideas (NI4D, Fair Tax, Drug Law Reform, etc).

I don't know about you, but...

Submitted on May 28th, 2008 by DebbieKat

I'm planning to throw my support to Nader. He's the next best thing we have left and, if not him, then maybe Cynthia McKinney. They are the two remaining candidates that have the strongest chance at making some waves and actually represent good things and moving our society in the right direction.

The one good thing that might come from this is Barr syphoning votes from McCain. Cross your fingers. :-)

So it Goes

Submitted on May 26th, 2008 by Timothy V. Gatto

So the Libertarians have shown the nation that they cannot be taken seriously. That is unfortunate. I'm grateful to Mike for doing all that he has done. Nothing is ever in vain. His message will still resonate in hearts of people who think. It's just too bad that this country doesn't have enough of these people.

Timothy V. Gatto

convert to NI4D.

Submitted on May 26th, 2008 by kelargo

convert to NI4D.

This is a very sad day. As I

Submitted on May 26th, 2008 by freestone

This is a very sad day. As I said before, if Gravel cannot win, I don't have any hope for the change through political process anymore. To me, Mike Gravel is to test the boundary/limits of American politics. There is no one who can give a better shot than Gravel. If Gravel cannot win over American people, no one else can. We will have to push the change through other ways.

The real change then has to come from directly empowering people. NI4D is one of them.

American people finally had a political candidate that belong to them. But they squandered the chance. :(

Don't want to listen to the argument of there is no real candidate, no real choice anymore. You had a choice before. Mike Gravel was the choice. Why American people don't see the choice?

The usual problems I came across when promoting Mike Gravel with other people: one is that people cannot really comprehend that Mike Gravel is the real solution. People cannot comprehend the real problem of America. The seriousness of America's problem is way beyond most people's understanding. This is really an education issue. People are dumbed down by our education. Another argument people gave is that Mike Gravel cannot win. That is ridiculous. If you don't vote for your own guy, who will vote for your guy?

I thought Gravl at least should get a lot of support from grassroots people. But through my contacts, most grassroots people (including peace organizations) went for Obama. This is one thing that I really cannot comprehend. Does it really require a lot of knowledge (like the level of Noam Chomsky's knowledge) to understand the problems of America? If mainstream media ignored Mike Gravel, how about alternative media?

Anyway, what a president can do is really not much, compared to the real change that can be brought out by people self-organizing with the aid of web and Internet. We are just at the beginning of a real revolution, which will start a totally new era in human history. The history of the minority of people oppress the majority of people will be finally changed. Let the majority of people organize together and maginize those minorties (corporation, politicians...).

http://freestone.wordpress.com/

http://freestone.wordpress.com/more-about-me/