Catching Up With a Loser: Mike Gravel

The nation has been buzzing about Alaska’s most famous maverick politician all week and, well, we’re going to stretch it out one more day… former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK) is this week’s entry in our Presidential Loser Series ! As Americans, we like everything bigger and better than what the other guy has, and Gravel was no exception. Not content to wallow among your garden-variety losers like Tom Vilsack , Jim Gilmore and Hillary Clinton , Gravel eclipsed them with the rare feat of losing two presidential nominations in the same cycle! Gravel’s first loss came as a Democrat. He stood out within the party’s field for his knowledge of how to get a prescription for cocaine , but not for his knowledge on how to sneak into a debate . And when the party frontrunners aired standard-issue ads of themselves striding through factories and shaking hands with the entire U.S. Army, Gravel responded with an avant-garde video of himself heavin...