Jesse Ventura may again climb into the political ring

Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler and sometime-actor who improbably won the governorship of Minnesota a decade ago, may again roil his state's political waters. Then again, he may not.

Ventura has been hinting for months that he might make an already closely watched Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken a three-way affair; back in May, he told Larry King on CNN, "I'm weighing it right now."

He's still weighing it as Tuesday's deadline for filing approaches; indeed, he's talking about it more than ever, leading to speculation he'll take the leap.

Our friend Ted Johnson, who writes the "Wilshire & Washington" column for Variety, recently interviewed Ventura and wrote that "he sounded like a candidate, ready to needle his opponents at every turn. He mapped out a renegade campaign strategy in which he would raise money on the Internet yet not spend more than $1 million for his bid."

Johnson quoted Ventura as saying: "I will not spend more than I earn, and that gives me I think a million dollar cap, because the salary for a senator is $170,000" a year.

We were initially confused by Ventura's math, but he's apparently referring to what he would gross over a six-year term.

The buzz surrounding Ventura grew very loud today, following the broadcast on NPR of an interview he gave David Welna Sunday in a parking lot in Minnesota. He again talked as if he had decided to run, and even offered what presumably would be one of his main messages: "All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: If you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you?"

Ventura quickly clarified that his remarks were hypothetical, and that he'll continue to weigh his options until the filing deadline. "It will come down to whether I want to change my lifestyle and go to that lifestyle or not," he said.

The prospect of another political season enlivened by a Ventura candidacy geneerated much comment, including this post on The Swamp.

As we recently noted, current polling indicates Franken -- of "Saturday Night Live" fame -- would fall short in his bid to unseat Coleman. Who knows how Ventura would scramble the dynamics; his political persona is so idiosyncratic it seems, at first blush, hard to predict.

And this might be even harder to divine -- were he to run and win, would he bother to caucus with either party on Capitol Hill?

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[A Minnesotan]

Run, Jesse, run! I will vote for him in a heartbeat over either of the two front-runners.

[Mark]

Jesse, we've got your back if you run. Minnesota, no, AMERICA needs you.

Chickenhawk vs. Carpetbagger vs. Ventura
I'd pay to see those debates.

[Chad Steele]

Jesse,
I will support you no matter where you run.

Would love to see you run, even if only to shake up the losers in power at the moment.

Go for it!

[Bo]

The Senate could use some common sense and real straight talk of Ventura. He would look out what is best for Minnesotans and all Americans while the other two would look out for their respective parties. I would vote for him.

[Guest]

Well, the MN Senate race won't become anymore of joke than it already is in having the battle between Norm Coleman & the joker Al Franken of SNL. Putting Jesse in the Senate though would make MN even more of a laughingstock from when Jesse was in office as governor several years back. NOT an improvement, if he does run & manages to win this time around.
Minnesotan all my life.

[Mark Miceli]

Jesse for President!

[Alexander]

I live in Minneapolis. I would not only vote for Jesse, but campaign in the rain for him. I really hope he runs.

[Richard Haven]

Like one-term representatives, it would be easy for Ventura to stay "true" to his beliefs and refuse to compromise. Without compromise, nothings happens, and everyone can wallow in their smug dismissal of the system.

Representing the interests of one's constituents means compromising a lot to make things happen. It means doing the hard work of understanding 500 page bills instead of depending on the lobbyists' summaries. It means letting other states "win" sometimes.

The voters can reward that kind of mature behavior with re-election, or they can vote for whoever scares them the most (argumentum ad baculum) or who helps them feel superior to the horrible system.

We voters pay ourselves a lot of money because we refuse to spend more than a few hours a year (a year!) looking at the actual behavior of the candidates; advertising buys our votes, so campaign money directs those who want to be elected. QED.

We have what we value: stop whining.

[David K]

Forget the senate, go for president! ;)

[Pete]

After Jessie blamed the US government for 911, he couldn't be elected as a garbage collector. He's a looser!

[Joe Citizen]

Run Jesse,

Keep them honest. We need someone to vote for....make it you. Hey, you'd like to kick Normie's Azz again right?

Joe Citizen

[Mel]

I'm a Minnesotan and I'd vote for Jesse for sure.

[TOM]

JESSE IS RIGHT ON WITH A THREE PARTY SYSTEM 9 TRILLION DOLLARS AND COUNTING OUR DEFICIT....
THE LOBBYIST OWN THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW .ITS TIME WE TAKE IT BACK WITH JESSE LEADING THE WAY. JESSE WONT BACK DOWN LIKE ROSS PEROT.BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THE SAME STUFF ROSS PEROT TALKED ABOUT IS ALREADY HAPPENING LIKE NAFTA , AND THE LOSS OF AMERICAN JOBS AND MOST OF ALL THE DEFICIT .
I WOULD VOTE FOR JESSE IN A HEART BEAT. HES GOT INTEGRITY

[Rajeev K Kaushal]

I am currently living in Europe If Mr Ventura run I will move back to America and live in Minnesota and supprt him untill the last day of my life. He is the most honest man alive in the US Politics. God Bless his heart.