The Political Whore

UPDATE 7-30-07: Gravel’s visit never came off. His campaign would only say they hope to reschedule him in Tampa Bay at some time.

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel is scheduling a campaign rally and fundraiser stop in Tampa Bay for July 24, according to David Nelson-VanDette of the Tampa Bay FairTax Advocates.

Gravel, a maverick former U.S. Senator from Alaska who is best known for his role in helping keep the Pentagon Papers in the public eye when the Nixon Administration tried to stifle its further publication, is a Fair Tax supporter, Nelson-VanDette said. Former congressional candidate Samm Simpson is also involved in planning the evening’s events.

Gravel is well behind in name recognition polls and his campaign would be almost entirely unknown if not for The Daily Show’s John Stewart featuring Gravel’s enigmatic advertisement “Rock,” in which he stares at a camera for an interminable length of time before walking away and tossing a rock into a small lake. But it will be interesting to see if his appearance here attracts the attention of the GLBT community, since he is an ardent supporter of gay rights. Consider this from a recent issue of The Advocate:

He is also unabashedly pro–marriage equality. After the New Hampshire debate in early June, where he wasn’t quite as fiery — nor as effective — as in South Carolina, he told me that if he had been given the stage time, he would have said that civil unions aren’t good enough. “I wanted to give the definition of marriage — marriage is nothing but a commitment of two human beings in love. I don’t care if it’s two women, two men, or a man and a woman — it’s a commitment of love.”

And on that note, Gravel even ventures to talk at length about gay love. “Love between a man and a woman is beautiful, love between a woman and a woman is beautiful, love between a man and a man is beautiful too,” he said. “What this world needs is a lot more love.”

In addition to supporting the Fair Tax and the abolition of the I.R.S., Gravel also advocates direct democracy in which citizens make the nation’s laws by initiative, an immediate end to the war in Iraq and a single-payer national health care system.

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