On July 1st and for the next 2 weeks, the window to file is open, should one want to be on the November ballots. The MN media is now atwitter as it tries to read the tea leaves to determine if Jesse Ventura will file to run for the US Senate seat against incumbent Norm Coleman and Dem endorsed Al Franken.
In this interview by the Rochester, MN ABC affiliate, Ventura’s former campaign manager, Dean Barkley pontificates on whether Ventura will run, the issues he will face and his prospects for the race.
On whether Ventura will run, Barkley says:
I know his arguments pro and con of what’s going through his mind. If I had to guess I think it’s more likely he’ll run than not. He knows the opportunity is there. He’s not stupid. He knows this is probably a historic opportunity for an independent to win this senate seat.
I’d agree that with Coleman, a well documented RINO who would get Conservative votes not just with a nose held but with full Hazmat suits on, and Al Franken, a candidate who makes Alec Baldwin appear logical and even tempered, running there is room for the incredibly enigmatic voters of Minnesota to go for an independent. The problem is that Ventura isn’t independent. While he could claim “independence” when he ran for Governor, this time he has a record. A quick review of his record as Governor will show that while he talked as an independent, he governed mostly aligned with the Left.
When queried as to how Ventura would be able to compete in a campaign that has become the most expensive in Minnesota history, Barkley says:
He’ll just have to go out and be Jesse. Just tell them the truth; tell people what he’s thinking, what he thinks is wrong
And there’s the rub. Most onions would have skins determined to be impenetrable in comparison to Jesse’s. Barack Obama would have a better chance of being considered “just one of the guys” in an Evangelical, NRA meeting in Pennsylvania than Jesse would of the vast cross section of Minnesotans. Jesse as Jesse is what took him from Minnesota’s man of “Hope and Change” to a historical political oddity.
Some may fantasize that Ventura will be able to do to the Senate race what he did to the Governor race. They believe that Jesse will be able to invigorate a section of the electorate to vote where they had normally not done so. That, along with a dissatisfaction with the two party system, would put Jesse over the top. The problem with this thinking is that the invigoration has already been done by Barack Obama. The young folks who Jesse brought to vote are already in. The other problem is that unlike the first time around, Minnesotans now know Jesse.
In the end, other than some good theatre, it probably doesn’t matter much whether Jesse runs or not. A recent poll by KSTP-TV shows that Coleman is polling ahead by 12 points if only he and Franken run. Coleman has a 10 point lead over Franken and Ventura finishes a distant third if he enters the race.
If Jesse decides to run, he will likely find Minnesotans following the famous Chinese proverb: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”
