Mar 31, 2008 5:42 pm US/Central
Jesse Ventura Says No Plans To Run
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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"I've learned after 56 years you never say never. I have no intention at this point in time, but who knows, that could change," said Ventura. (File)
Minnesota's Senate race already has a comedian and a politician. Maybe what it needs is: Jesse Ventura.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, the former Reform Party governor said there's nothing that could get him back into politics. But then he kept talking:
"I've learned after 56 years you never say never. I have no intention at this point in time, but who knows, that could change." He said he's watching the Senate race with interest, and "I'm not very pleased with either candidate."
That would be Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who suffered his only electoral defeat when Ventura beat him for the governership in 1998, and Al Franken, the former Saturday Night Live comedian running as a Democrat.
"I would think we certainly could do a whole lot better in the state of Minnesota," Ventura said.
Ventura has been busy. He called from Boulder, Colo., where he just finished shooting an independent movie called Woodshop where he plays a shop teacher. And he just wrote "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!" It's built as a travelogue of his and wife Terry's drive from Minnesota to Baja California, Mexico, where they now spend more than half their time, as Ventura put it, more than an hour from pavement and an hour from electricity.
In the book, the former pro wrestler and one-term governor lays out a scenario where he ends up running for President, including a campaign kickoff at a Wrestlemania event. In the book he ends up getting shot by a Cuban exile upset over Ventura's opposition to the U.S. trade embargo.
On Monday, he said he just wanted to write about an independent candidate, and chose himself because it's safer. It's not a secret plan to run. "Am I going to run for president this year? No," he said.
In between talking about leaving the gold standard ($9 trillion in debt since then) and the virtues of Mexican property taxes (20 percent off for early payment!) he declared himself "the most powerful man in America." Why? Because Republicans and Democrats had to work together to stop him when he was governor.
"I'm the only one that could get them in bed together," he said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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