WASHINGTON - Long-shot presidential candidate Mike Gravel told supporters Wednesday he is leaving the Democratic Party to join the Libertarian Party.
Gravel, a former Democratic senator from Alaska, said in an e-mail that the Democratic Party "no longer represents my vision for our great country."
"It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and imperialism — all of which I find anathema to my views," he said in the e-mail in which he also asked supporters for campaign donations.
Gravel, 77, has been excluded from recent Democratic debates because he failed to meet fundraising or polling thresholds.
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