Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel is defecting from his Party to support a Green for President. He has announced his support for Jesse Johnson according to the DC Statehood Green Party. You can review my coverage of last July's national Green Party convention (in our archives) for more information about their candidates. It was a rather amusing several days speaking with their strange assortment of presidential contenders. I think Gravel fits in with them.
Update: Andrew Sullivan is linking to this and the Politico.com did so yesterday so here's a link to my article about the Green Party presidential forum last summer. It's interesting.
Did they send this to you, or did you find time in your busy schedule to dig it up yourself?
Posted by: Daniel | March 12, 2008 at 11:20 PM
They sent me the press release, as do many organizations and campaigns.
Posted by: John Morgan | March 13, 2008 at 07:12 AM
Did Mike Gravel actually say he's endorsing Jesse Johnson, or did Gravel just say something nice about him?
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | March 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM
He said lots of nice things in addition to saying he is supporting him for president. Here's the entire press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 March 2008
Contact:
Joel Brown, 703 864 5199, [email protected]
Steve Kramer, 240 426 3338, [email protected]
Committee to elect Jesse Johnson
Chris Petherick, 703 980 8055, [email protected]
Jon Kraus, 203 209 7736, [email protected]
Gravel for President
National Statesman and International Hero Senator Mike Gravel Supports Jesse Johnson’s Bid for President
In what has to be the most unprecedented cross party statement of support Democratic Party Candidate for President Mike Gravel announced that he has decided to support the campaign of Green Party Candidate Jesse Johnson running for the nomination on the Green Party Ticket.
After a meeting between the two in Washington DC Friday, Gravel stated, “My political party long ago walked away from taking the necessary steps that will safeguard our nation’s and our children’s futures. I worked dedicatedly throughout my career as a U.S. Senator to protect the precious resources our country had within it’s boundaries as well as to mitigate the negative impact our businesses and individuals were having on the planet. I have watched the ever important job of stewarding these gifts vanish from the political landscape and I hold the Democratic Party leadership responsible for giving up that fight.”
Why did Gravel choose Johnson from among the other candidates vying for the nomination in all the campaigns of all available political parties? Gravel explains, “I’m supporting Jesse because he began his political career with the determination that the environmental plundering must stop. He placed every other interest on hold to run for office, in his home state and now nationally, to challenge the corporations that destroy our national resources and then harvest from this practice a toxic energy source; coal. The mountain top mining practices devastate the landscape by blowing apart mountains and then carbon belching plants burn the coal creating a form of energy that serves as one of the major contributors for global climate change.”
Gravel continues, “We must have a voice in the political realm speaking earnestly and intelligently about all of our environmental needs. Johnson and the Green Party have that environmental credibility that we Democrats have lost.”
Senator Gravel intends to travel and campaign with Jesse Johnson as their schedule allows.
Jesse Johnson, former chair of the West Virginia Mountain Party and two time candidate for statewide office, said that this sort of cross party support “was just the kind of non-traditional, selfless act that we have come to know Senator Mike Gravel to make. When he read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional record, or filibustered to end the draft he had his eye – at all times –- on the big picture and the needs of others. I am not surprised that a true patriot and advocate of the citizen as leader of our country would take such an unprecedented and bold stand. And I am honored and humbled that he has selected my campaign and the Green Party as his allies in this very important race to save our environment from the actions of humans.”
Gravel closed by saying, “We’ve seen the havoc the two parties can wreak, on a global scale, by locking out the voices of reason -– by eliminating the third party voices. I want to amplify those voices to save our country from our own shortsighted and greedy actions. If we want to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to all citizens, educate our young people, we’re going to have to start not only working together with these alternate parties: but literally working to support them. That’s why I’m supporting Jesse Johnson’s campaign for President.”
Posted by: John Morgan | March 13, 2008 at 01:07 PM
Mike Gravel will be at Miller forum in Moyer hall, Muhlenberg college in Allentown PA.
he will be speaking at 7PM
Join us (Allentown Armory Activists) for a rally before the speaking event. We will be at the Allentown Armory, 15th and allen from 4-6. at 6 we will march to Muhlenberg.
Posted by: Joe Hill | April 06, 2008 at 01:27 AM