Jul 142008
Jesse Ventura has just announced that he will not be running for Senator this fall. I’m quite grateful for this news, not because I thought he would help or hurt any of the other candidates, but because this election will be enough of a circus without Jesse bringing his special brand of charm to the proceedings.
I actually feel some sympathy for Ventura. He was a mediocre governor, but he had a few good ideas (light rail being one of them). The impression he gives in recent interviews is of a man adrift in a sea of peculiar beliefs (especially on the topic of 9/11). However, he’s demonstrated the good sense not to attempt to relive his glory years, which is more than I can say for former Packer Brett Favre.
You would know better than I would, but “mediocre” seems harsh. Ventura impressed me as someone who was prepared to take on a number of technical, structural issues– telecom regulation sticks in my mind, but there were others. That kind of nitty-gritty often gets shoved off to the side and neglected, or delegated to the technocrats in the permanent government, usually to the determent of the general public, and usually because elected politicians don’t care to engage in hard-core governance. Ventura had an uphill battle, and in the end it looked to me like the legislature wore him down, but he showed that it could be done.
In California Schwarzenegger is doing much of the same sort of thing, and seems to be making some inroads. It’s too bad Jessie didn’t accomplish more, but I think he had the right idea, and that’s more than many can say.