The Nation - COLUMN ONE - They're last but not least - Ron Paul and Mike Gravel barely nudge the polls, but like their sneakers, their White House bids are notable.

Mike Gravel and Ron Paul. Mike and Ron. Their names, sharing space at the bottom of the polls, seem increasingly linked. Each came out swinging in the debates and scored points for candor and quirkiness and, in Gravel's case, crankiness.

The oldest of the declared candidates, Gravel, 77, and Paul, 71, have become the campaign's upstarts. They've helped draw an audience that might otherwise not have tuned in to the earliest-starting primary season in U.S. history.

After the first debate, Gravel generated more Internet traffic than any other Democratic contender except Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Through much of June and early July, "Ron Paul" was among the top three most frequently searched terms on the Web. Paul's YouTube videos were viewed 2.3 million times.

So who are these guys? Can two old men in rubber shoes win their parties' nomination to be leader of the free world?

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Mike Gravel, former senator from Alaska, has just flown in to Portland on a red-eye from Indianapolis.

He rode economy in a middle seat in row 25, landed in the City of Roses after 2 a.m., grabbed some sleep and strolled into the hotel restaurant just past 11 a.m. -- the cutoff time for breakfast.

"Would there be any chance you could manage one more breakfast?" Gravel asks the gum-chewing hostess. "I'm sorry

The hostess looks the candidate over.

Gravel smiles at her like a man to a favorite grandchild. Was this the same person whom commentators, after the first debate, called cantankerous?

He wears the obligatory uniform of male presidential hopefuls, dark suit and tie, and looks top to bottom like a decent enough fellow, with his thinning white hair and rimless spectacles. The hostess glances at his shoes: black strap-on Velcro walkers.

She sighs. "This way," she says.

He orders eggs, hash browns and toast with honey. He talks about his flight. "My feet were hurting so bad I couldn't sleep," he says. His voice, coincidentally, sounds gravelly. Gravel (pronounced gruh-VELL, as in his old campaign slogan, "Give Hell, Gravel!") suffers from neuropathy and chronic back pain, so traveling can be agony. Meditation helps him. In-flight movies too.