Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2008 Presidency.  You probably haven’t heard of him — he’s been overshadowed by Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and — well — just about everybody else.  Still, he’s a legitimate candidate (he’s been in all the Dem ’08 debates) with strong anti-war creds.

Now to the heart of this post.  Here is one of Gravel’s latest campaign ads:

In another campaign ad, Gravel walks through the woods, picks something up, walks off camera, then the video cuts to him sitting alone at a fire. The entire rest of the video might as well be the TV Christmas yule log. It’s nothing but branches burning.

You gotta hand it to him.  While people are trying to figure out exactly what these ads MEAN (if anything) and/or if Mike Gravel is (oh, I don’t know…) batshit CRAZY, one thing is clear: there’s a little buzz about Mike Gravel as a direct result of these political ads.  And that’s pretty smart campaigning for a guy nobody heard of.

UPDATE:  Gravel’s Press Secretary Shaun Alexander Colvin explains the ads:

"It’s a personal statement rather than a usual political statement that you get from candidates. This message and this candidate are not just about rhetoric and promises or about being verbose. It’s about a candidate looking you in the eye. He’s laying himself out, exposing himself, showing who he is."

"He’s a man who’ll look you in the eye. He could’ve been standing in the park making political statements and promises and such, and he’s doing just the opposite. His message is out there. He’s articulated it for a year. He’s standing by his word. And giving you a chance to see who he is."

"The beginning part of it is very interpretational. In metaphor, it would be the rock in the water and the ripple effect of the senator and his message and who he is, a man with an idea, who is little by little, day by day communicating that message.

"We are seeing a ripple effect from here in our offices in Arlington to communities across the country for his platform on Iraq and economic fairness. That metaphor is how a man spreads his message."