in debates when he could get himself into debates but never really broke through as a presidential candidate. what his candidacy did do in 2008 is remind everybody there is a guy in this country named mike gravel who once upon a time had a pretty phenomenal and interesting career in u.s. politics. in 1968 mike gravel was elected as a democratic senator from the state of alaska. he was sworn in 1969. and when you are a first-term senator yes, being a senator's a very prestigious job but when you're just starting out you don't get very prestigious assignments. so for mike gravel when he was a freshman senator the one thing he actually got to be in charge of in the senate, even with his party running the senate and so they're in the majority, they get all the chairmanships and everything, the one thing in the senate they put him in charge of was a subcommittee on buildings and grounds within the public works committee. it might not have been much but it was the one thing they let him run.