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Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) told The Associated Press on Wednesday that reports saying he has decided to run for Senate are premature. While the wrestler-turned-politician sounded like a candidate in a National Public Radio interview that aired Wednesday morning, saying Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R) votes for the Iraq war are “the reason I run – not to sell books. I run because it angers me,” he later told the AP that he was speaking hypothetically. “I gave him the reasons why I would run. But I said ultimately, it will come down to whether I want to change my lifestyle and go to that lifestyle or not,” Ventura said. He added that nobody knows what the final decision will be, not even his wife. Former Ventura campaign manager Dean Barkley assured The Hill on Wednesday that Ventura has made no final decision. Barkley, whom Ventura appointed in 2002 to serve briefly in the Senate, has spoken with Ventura frequently about the potential run. He said he had not spoken with Ventura on Wednesday, but that Ventura could not have made an official decision. “Just because NPR said he sounds like he might be running – I’ve been saying that for the last month,” Barkley said. “I think he’s going to because of the way he talks about it. “I just got a call from NPR asking, if he decides, would he be on their show. … So there’s no way he made a declaration on their show that he’s running.” Ventura has said he would wait until Tuesday’s filing deadline to make his decision. If he runs, it would throw a major wrench into an already pitched and colorful battle between Coleman and comedian Al Franken (D). In the NPR interview, Ventura also said: “And 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.” |
