The post-debate: Gravel-to-Gravel coverage

Steve Safran April 27th, 2007

Although Sen. Mike “Some of these people frighten me” Gravel prompted one LR commenter to write “he looks like he’s channeling Admiral Stockdale,” you gotta give the man this much - he made a splash. (Journalists with a sense of history should be at least a little interested - Gravel was one of the driving forces behind the release of the Pentagon Papers.) As the decided agent provocateur of the debate, Sen. Gravel certainly had some colorful suggestions and observations. Still, he seemed to be a hit with a substantial amount of the audience. MSNBC, which aired the debate, has an online poll and one of the questions is “Who stood out from the pack?” As of this writing, Gravel leads Biden, Dodd, Richardson and Kucinich. Especially interesting is the poll over at DailyKos which asks “Who won the debate, if anyone?” Here again, Gravel beats Biden, Dodd, Richardson and Kucinich - and comes within two points of tying Hillary Clinton. Over at Slate, John Dickerson writes that “Wild Mike was a near perfect synthesis of crank candidates of the past…” Instapundit livegraveled the debate, and noted this fine comment entry from Reason: “President Gravel? Only on the Flintstones!” So - what do you think? Will Sen. Gravel generate a Howard Dean-like swell of online support? Or are we just so tired of the same old same old that a person who speaks their mind is that refreshing?