My name is Ari Rutenberg and I am a supporter and activist for Mike Gravel. This so-called “third tier” candidate has been neglected and dismissed by the mainstream media and many of the liberal bloggers. Even though he has been at all the major recent Democratic campaign events, CNN and The New Hampshire Union-Leader were going to exclude him from their upcoming debate because they did not consider him a legitimate candidate.

I decided to challenge that decision.

So I did a few minutes of research online and found the direct phone number for the President of CNN, Jim Walton. I and some of my friends called him about a month ago and it got prompt, if dismissive, responses from CNN. Then people saw his appearance at last weeks debate, at which he was really the only one directly challenging the other candidates. When people found out he was to be excluded from this debate, things started to happen. One group started a petition that had over 6000 signatures, and I posted Jim Walton’s phone number all over the web in place I though people who cared would read.

Well today Sen. Gravels’ press secretary, Alex Colvin, posted on their blog that he has been officially invited by CNN.

Mike Gravel, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, says he has no problem with gay love.

New Hampshire's WMUR TV hosted a conversation with Gravel in which the former US senator, answering an audience question about gay marriage, replies, "If a couple of lesbians or gay men want to get married, and they love each other, they should have the right to do that and enjoy all the legalities in our society that go along with that. I have no problem with that at all."

"I think that people who create these problems of homophobia and the likes of that do us a disservice," Gravel continues. "We are all human beings and one of the things that should motivate us, most of all, is love."

He blasts President Bush's "faith-based leadership," saying, "You can't legislate morality."

Replacing the income tax with a national sales tax would eliminate a monster and create a source of reliable income for the poor.

“The present tax code stands 4 feet high,” he said. “I spent eight years on the finance committee and I know there is no one on this Earth who understands it. A national sales tax is progressive because the more you earn, the more you spend and the more you pay in taxes. It’s fairly collected and totally transparent.”

A portion of the tax would be used to cover the essentials of life, such as food, shelter, medicine and transportation for the poor.

“Now, the poor person is either on welfare or sleeping under the bridge,” Mr. Gravel said. “This would provide a cash flow to the poor.”

He also opposes taxing corporations.

“That may disturb a lot of liberals, but it’s cruel for the government to saddle corporations with this inefficient and incompetent system,” he said. “The cost of complying with the tax code is $270 billion a year. I’d much rather they spend that money creating more jobs.”

Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney

AMY GOODMAN: Former Alaska senator and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Gravel is holding a news conference in New York City today to call for a new independent investigation into 9/11. Gravel will be speaking on behalf of the NYC 9/11 Ballot Initiative Campaign, a grassroots group seeking to place an initiative on the ballot of the November 6th general election allowing registered New York City voters to create a new commission to investigate 9/11.

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AMY GOODMAN: Senator Gravel, when you say we don’t know the truth about 9/11, what do you mean?

MIKE GRAVEL: Government—90 percent of what the government does is held secret. It’s a whole cult. And that’s the thing that is really strangling our democracy, that we just don’t know what’s going on. And so, you need to rip off the scab and see the wound of what the government is damaging. And so, it’s a cult. And I don’t know how I can phrase it.