Mike Gravel forms exploratory committee

[Sestak]

Is he... all there? Are we sure this isn't elder abuse? He's 88 years old, and a group of teens are just running his campaign? Website, twitter, FEC filings? Have we heard from him directly?

Apparently a reporter called him.

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Is he... all there? Are we sure this isn't elder abuse? He's 88 years old, and a group of teens are just running his campaign? Website, twitter, FEC filings? Have we heard from him directly?

Apparently a reporter called him.

Even so. Getting some Harper Lee vibes here. Have this nagging feeling this is a Russian/alt-right troll operation to get a senile old man on the debate stage.

[Vega]

Is he... all there? Are we sure this isn't elder abuse? He's 88 years old, and a group of teens are just running his campaign? Website, twitter, FEC filings? Have we heard from him directly?

Apparently a reporter called him.

Even so. Getting some Harper Lee vibes here. Have this nagging feeling this is a Russian/alt-right troll operation to get a senile old man on the debate stage.

It must really suck to be this afraid of the Russians.

[Harlow]

If "the Russians" are trying to promote an anti-imperialist message at the debates, then god bless the Russians.

[Sestak]

GRAVELANCHE

https://twitter.com/mikegravel/status/1108371690302648320?s=21

[Karpatsky]

GRAVELANCHE

https://twitter.com/mikegravel/status/1108371690302648320?s=21

Who is running that account? It seems satirical.

[Theodore]

If "the Russians" are trying to promote an anti-imperialist message at the debates, then god bless the Russians.

[PaperKooper]

GRAVELANCHE

https://twitter.com/mikegravel/status/1108371690302648320?s=21

Who is running that account? It seems satirical.

The high-school students running his campaign.  (This is literally true, not a joke)

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gravel-2020-810542/

Splinter shed some more light on the campaign Wednesday morning, reporting that [the exploratory committee is] the brainchild of New York high school student David Oks.

Gravel staffer and Columbia University freshman Henry Williams later confirmed several details to Rolling Stone about the campaign. Williams said that he and Oks, who in 2017 ran for mayor of Ardsley, New York, along with another student, Elijah Emery, have been communicating with the former senator for the past week and a half after hearing about him on the leftist podcast Chapo Trap House. Williams said Gravel is interested in running. “Over several conversations he articulated what he wanted to put out there and that he was interested in starting an exploratory committee,” Williams says.

“The senator has all these issues he wants to get into the public debate,” Williams adds. “That’s the premise of the campaign and of getting his name out there as something that could raise these issues and that could get him on the debate stage. We asked him whether he would be all right with us taking over his social media and testing the waters. We worked with him on a series of policy issues that were important to him, and wanted to phrase those in a way that would get traction on Twitter.”

Williams says that the campaign went viral organically after the initial “#Gravel2020” tweet Tuesday night, and that as of Wednesday morning the account is adding “20 or 30 followers a minute.” Williams, Oks and Emery are currently working on putting a staff together and charting out how to proceed should Gravel decide to make a run. “Like Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg and other smaller, outsider candidates, the goal really is the message and getting his signature policy, particularly foreign policy, out there.”

[Lord Admirale]

GRAVELANCHE

https://twitter.com/mikegravel/status/1108371690302648320?s=21

Who is running that account? It seems satirical.

Some special rose twitter kid. If it was actually him, it'd probably be more like this (and funnier):
https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/167616883137314816?s=21

[AltWorlder]

If "the Russians" are trying to promote an anti-imperialist message at the debates, then god bless the Russians.

Not to mention screaming “Russians!” betrays a woeful lack of historical knowledge. Last time foreign teens meddled in an American election, they were from Moldova.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Politico just came out with an article, Gravel seems to be ok with this.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/20/mike-gravel-president-chapo-trap-house-1230332

The filing was the brainchild of teenagers — but they had the senator’s blessing.

“They asked me if it was okay, I said they could do what they wanted, as long as they were doing it and not me!” Gravel joked in a brief interview with POLITICO.

Gravel and the teens are an odd match at first glance: He has been out of the Senate for roughly double the time his young organizers have been alive.

“When they first approached me, I responded, ‘Do you know how old I am?’” Gravel said.

But the students said they were attracted to Gravel after hearing about the senator on "Chapo Trap House," a left-leaning podcast. The organizers said they were drawn to Gravel's beliefs on foreign policy specifically, as well as the promotion of direct democracy initiatives by the senator who famously read the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record.

And no, Gravel himself is not the one doing the tweeting. It is the students: “The caustic style and affinity for memes, that’s more representative of high schoolers than former senators,” Oks said.

The organizers, who initially pitched Gravel on the run with a policy memo, are flying out to California in April to convince him to to go from an exploratory committee to a full-on run. (“They need to persuade my wife,” Gravel said.) They have been in constant contact with Gravel over the last day.

[RI]

Finally, a good candidate.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Gravel was my first emotional preference in 2008. So it's pretty sad to observe this circus.

[NeederNodder]

Wouldn't be surprised if he makes a speech at the convention.

[RI]

Wouldn't be surprised if he makes a speech at the convention.

The nomination acceptance speech, that is.

[Reluctant Republican]

Tried to throw a dollar his way but unfortunately the donation page is not working yet. I suppose because Mike has not really declared. Hopefully he doe sin the next few days, I'd love to see him in the debates. I still recall when he angrily asked Obama who he wanted to nuke.

[JA]

Sorry, Daddy Sanders. I’m with the Gravel Gang now.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Damn democrats promoting gang violence, you got the Yang Gang now the Gravel Gang!

[OBD]

Who?

[Reluctant Republican]

Perhaps this time Gravel will get the internet support Ron Paul's run deprived him of in 2008.

Though I think Yang's already got him beat.

[Mr. Morden]

Tried to throw a dollar his way but unfortunately the donation page is not working yet. I suppose because Mike has not really declared.

No, that's not it.  He does have an exploratory committee now, so he can accept donations just like Buttigieg, Messam, and Weld can.  But it sounds like this was leaked before the kids running his campaign were ready, so they literally just haven't set up the webpage to accept donations yet (but presumably will in the coming days).  IIRC, this also happened with Gabbard, where she spontaneously decided to announce her candidacy on CNN before there was a donation page set up for her.

[_]

Who?

You're too young it seems, let me educate you:  Watch this

[Mr. Morden]

Who?

You're too young it seems, let me educate you:  Watch this

Can't forget his 2007 debate performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dsXO8vxYQM

[Peanut]

Wouldn't be surprised if he makes a speech at the convention.

The nomination acceptance speech, that is.