According to several of those political quizzes circulating on the Internet, Alaska-Senator-turned-bitter-curmudgeon/longshot-Democratic-presidential-candidate Mike Gravel was one of my top matches for president.

I guess should be heartened, then, to see that Gravel is apparently now pursuing the Libertarian nomination.

Gravel’s platform is actually an odd grab-bag of proposals, including replacing the income tax with a “progressive fair tax” and a universal health care proposal. But given his views on the Iraq war, immigration, civil liberties, the drug war, and same-sex marriage, t wouldn’t be completely inaccurate to describe his views as left-libertarianish.

The campaign’s centerpiece is something Gravel calls The National Initiative for Democracy, which is a kind of national referendum mechanism and an interesting proposal for a more direct form of democracy.

Of course, Gravel’s fringe ideas and his cranky and sardonic manner don’t exactly scream viable candidacy. Personally, I like cranky and sardonic people, but I suspect I’m in the minority here.