Mike Gravel

Only this time, presidential hopeful Mike Gravel is chasing her tail.

I just watched the video below, which literally made me fall off my chair. It's hilarious.

The 77-year-old Libertarian candidate Gravel sings along (and no, he can't carry a tune) with the infamous Obama Girl, trying to get her to join his camp. "You should drop your crush on your Obama," he sings. "You ought to know you're off the chain." (I guess that means he thinks she's hot.)

Obama Girl responds saying while she digs "Mike," she's still got her Obama crush. She dances around in her usual tight-fitting Obama shirt, with Gravel watching on.

Enter "Crank That Soulja Boy" music. Gravel's past debate remarks are mixed to the hip-hop tune, then he's seen doing the Soulja Boy dance with Obama girl and others that made University of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan a YouTube favorite.

But alas, in the end, despite his efforts, Gravel gets no commitment from Obama Girl. "I'll think about it," she tells him when asked if she'll campaign for him instead of that other guy.

"I totally learned that Soulja Boy dance for nothing," Gravel laments.

I woke up this morning to the sad news that film icon Charlton Heston had passed away, reported beautifully by my colleague, Justin Paulette. Heston was a singular personality, but also a controversial one, politically. It is a tribute to Heston's charisma and charm that many liberals, myself included, had no problem overlooking his status as the face of the gun lobby to enjoy his films.

I want to pay tribute to him, but I don't want to give him short shrift, so I will continue this ode to Charlton Heston at the conclusion of VOTW with a look at my own personal Heston Trilogy, three films, and three roles, that would not have been possible with another actor.

This week, we've got Hillary with another tall tale, McCain telling us all to stay off his lawn, President Bush pitching to the enemy, Ron Paul swinging big wood, Obama getting f@cked, Oprah doing good and evil, and an absolute must see, can't miss trainwreck from Mike Gravel.

To lead off this week's VOTW, here's a great clip from The Young Turks. My pal, Cenk Uygar, deconstructs Rachel Maddow deconstructing John McCain's straight talkin' maverick narrative. Extra points for making Joe Scarborough look foolish.

Presidential contender Mike Gravel has left the Democratic Party for the Libertarians.

In his announcement of the switch, Gravel says:

I'm joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can't be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America. My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American.

He'll be competing against 15 other candidates for the Libertarian nomination at the party convention in Denver in May.

Libertarian spokesman, Andrew Davis, isn't so sure Gravel is the right candidate for the Libs, either:

He has some libertarian inclinations, but there's still a lot of issues that he doesn't fall into step that perfectly with the platform on. We're hoping once he can become acquainted and see what the party's all about, he can adjust his views.

The Libertarians may be holding out some hope that Ron Paul - still a Republican candidate - might join them as he did in1988.

Here's something to remember Mike by:

Mike Gravel was next to answer on 10Questions.com. For those of you unfamiliar with this debate format, you can see my previous coverage here, with a rundown of the questions, my answers, and the candidates' answers to date.

Here are Mike Gravel's answers. After the jump, I'll run through his answers, and let you know how I think he did.

Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, a Democratic 2008 presidential hopeful, has been excluded from appearing in any more Democratic debates this year. He's upset, as you can imagine. And this is how upset he is:



B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.

And all the candidates show up at Hillary's Halloween party. No shots at all at Barack Obama and Hillary takes the brunt of the Jokes... as in "Nice Witch Costume".