While reading my local newspaper in Minnesota -- Pioneer Press -- I noticed a list of presidential candidates for 2008 which included 9 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Of these 9 Democrats one stood out since I have never seen him mentioned anywhere else -- former US Senator from Alaska Mike Gravel:
http://www.gravel2008.us/
Senator Gravel served in Alaska's House of Representatives including two terms as Speaker of the House before being elected to the US Senate where he served from 1969 to 1981. Gravel is probably best known for his opposition to President Richard Nixon including Gravel's release of the "Pentagon Papers" which included documents detailing how and why the USA entered the Vietnam War. One fact that shocked me regarding Gravel's background is that he served as chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute (http://www.adti.net/), a free market-oriented think tank. This is an interesting footnote since Gravel's presidential campaign advocates universal health care -- clearly not a free market idea.
Senator Gravel is currently married to Whitney Stewart Gravel which is noted on his official bio but other sources (http://www.nndb.com/people/987/000115642/) note that he married Rita Martin in 1958.
Finding information on Whitney and Rita has proven difficult so as the campaign progresses I will check emerging sources.
Todd
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