From NPR -
SEASIDE, Calif. — Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and confronted Barack Obama about nuclear weapons during a later presidential run, has died. He was 91.
Gravel, who represented Alaska as a Democrat in the Senate from 1969 to 1981, died Saturday, according to his daughter, Lynne Mosier. Gravel had been living in Seaside, California, and was in failing health, said Theodore W. Johnson, a former aide.
I never met him, but agreed with him on many things.
In 2008, there was a large contingent of Democrats on the presidential ballot in AZ and it was my job to organize an evening for my local legislative district where representative/surrogates from each campaign (people not from our group) would come speak to us on behalf of their preferred candidate before we voted (most of us voted by mail, which Republicans hate with a passion).
I remember thinking that Gravel's surrogate did the best job (which didn't make a bit of difference in the end) and that his message should have reached a wider audience.
