Pubdate: Wed, 24 Feb 1999
Source: Kyodo News (Japan)
Author: Paul E. Flatin

MINNESOTA GOVERNOR'S STAR RISING ON NATIONAL SCENE

WASHINGTON,  -- Jessie 'The Body' Ventura, a
former professional wrestler who is now governor of Minnesota, rocked the
national political establishment during a whirlwind visit to Washington that
ended Tuesday.

Washington's political elite took his remarks in speeches and press
conferences during the four-day visit as a signal he might someday
return to the capital as  president.

''I will do four years as governor of the State of Minnesota. But the
year 2004? Well, who knows?'' he said.

''I could end up down the street here in that big White House, or I
could end up living in a hut on the beaches at Kona (Hawaii),'' the
bald, gravel-voiced Ventura declared in a speech to an overflow crowd
at the National Press Club on Monday.

The 47-year-old governor, who retired from wrestling in 1984 after 11
years on the pro circuit, arrived in Washington on Saturday for the
National Governors Association annual winter meeting, and remained in
the national media spotlight throughout the weekend.

At the meeting, Ventura created a sensation, dwarfing other governors,
even Texas Gov. George W. Bush -- widely regarded as the leading
Republican candidate for the 2000 presidential race.

Despite his background as a wrestler, a Rolling Stones bodyguard, an
actor and finally a radio talk show host, the national political elite
take the independent-minded Ventura's political ambitions quite seriously.

Running on the Reform Party ticket, Ventura trounced his opponents
from the more established Democrat and Republican parties in the
November, 1998, election -- the most improbable upset -- and maintains
a 72% approval rating.

Ventura warned, ''If these parties don't wake up from their bipartisan
bickering, there will be more Jessie Venturas on the horizon.''

He believes the two parties only represent 30% of voters at either end
of the political extreme, with the rest of the American public
generally so dissatisfied that they choose not to vote.

''I gave them plain talk and honesty,'' Ventura said. ''And that's
what the people of Minnesota responded to. I gave them a centrist
position -- something far different from what they were used to seeing.''

At the governors' annual meeting, California's Democratic Gov. Gray
Davis told reporters, ''When you can expand the electorate as he did
- -- then you're a force in politics.''

Ventura was careful to maintain his distance from the two dominant
parties in the United States -- during a break in Saturday's meetings,
he declined to join a caucus of Democratic governors and instead met
with the only other independent governor, Angus King of Maine, at a
Washington park.

Reveling in the spotlight, the tough-talking former Navy SEAL appeared
Sunday on NBC's nationally broadcast TV talk show 'Meet the Press,'
and questioned the political ethics of First Lady Hillary Clinton's
possible run for the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000 -- a subject of
increasing national speculation.

''She never lived in New York,'' Ventura said. ''Why doesn't she run
from Arkansas? That's where she's from.''

But the governor told his press club audience that later Sunday
evening he and his wife danced next to President Bill Clinton and the
first lady and he regretted not asking the president if he could ''cut

in.''

Ventura said his wife warned him, ''Don't you dare.''

Ventura also stands apart from the political establishment by refusing
to take money from -- much less even meet with -- political lobbyists
at the Minnesota state capitol.

''I come with no strings attached,'' he said.

As a further demonstration of his unconventional attitude, the
governor proclaimed the U.S. 'war on drugs' was as doomed to failure
as was a ban on alcohol during the prohibition era of the 1920s. He
called for new approach focused on defeating demand, not supply.

Asked if other professional wrestlers should consider running for
public office, Ventura responded, ''We've certainly got enough lawyers
there, and look at what they've done. I don't think the wrestlers
could do any worse.''

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MAP posted-by: Rich O'Grady