Now that primary season is well underway, much of the attention in the Democratic race has surrounded front-runners Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. And since Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, announced that he was dropping out, only one “long-shot” candidate remains: Mike Gravel.
Though the former Alaska senator has yet to make a significant showing in any of the recent Democratic primaries and caucuses, he says that he’s in the race for the long haul. “We plan on campaigning right through until the end, until November,” spokesman Elliott Jacobson said.
Gravel has continued to deliver his message — mainly focused on withdrawal from Iraq — at town hall meetings in Florida, where his name is on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary. Most of his fellow candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida because the state broke Democratic National Committee rules when it moved up its primary date. But Jacobson said, “The senator believes that the state of Florida has every right to be seated at the convention, and that the delegates have a right to have a voice in who becomes the next president.”
