Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, is running, at age 76 and after years out of the public arena, the longest of long-shot candidacies for the presidency. Gravel, now living in Virginia, served in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1981. ... Gravel conducted a one-on-one, 45 minute conversation with Iowa Independent fellow Douglas Burns. Iowa Independent: When I watched the debate the other night, and don't take this the wrong way, but you seem awfully angry for a 76-year-old. Why are you so angry? Sen. Gravel: I'm angry because every day you and I are talking about this thing people are dying. How would you feel if you were over there (Iraq) getting shot at, getting crippled, because your leaders didn't exercise proper judgment. What about the people who are going die between now and Christmas because we don't end the war? That's a reason to get angry. That's blood. That's people dying and we sit here complacently and say, "That's far away."

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