SURE, MINNESOTA'S GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN had been a hoot, what with a no-chance-on-earth third-party candidate marauding about the state and providing some comic relief from the stiffs who headed up the Republican and Democratic tickets. But the election was supposed to signal sober-up time. Instead, the good citizens of Minnesota learned that they--or 37% of the 61% of those who went to the polls--had voted into the Governor's office a 6 ft. 4 in., 250-lb. shaved-head former professional wrestler and Twin City radio shock jock named Jesse ("The Body") Ventura.

The traditionally progressive, populist state that has given the nation such substantive political figures as Hubert H. Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter Mondale braced itself for ridicule. But once the joking had subsided, the head scratching began. For Ventura's triumph in Minnesota was a stunning political upset with unforeseen causes and unpredictable consequences. He was the first candidate of Ross Perot's Reform Party to win statewide office. He defeated two respected, if not beloved, career politicians--Republican Norm Coleman, mayor of St. Paul, and Democrat Hubert ("Skip") Humphrey III, state attorney general and son of the late Vice President. Ventura's slogan, "Retaliate in '98," seemed an off-key way to appeal to voters in a prosperous and well-governed state with 2.4% unemployment. Retaliate for what?

Boredom seems to be the most likely answer, plus a growing grass-roots resentment of elitist politicians who govern by focus groups rather than personal convictions. Ventura's campaign manager, Doug Friedline, says, "He's very straightforward and honest. You may not like his answers, but you're gonna get them anyway."

At first blush, straightforward and honest seem odd terms, even for a campaign manager, to apply to someone who made his name in the phantasmagorically staged world of pro wrestling and then parlayed his fame into roles in Hollywood action films, including Predator, The Running Man and >Batman & Robin.

Ventura entered Minnesota politics in 1990 when he ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, a Minneapolis suburb, and won, causing a nervous frisson in the state's political establishment. Here was a guy who had campaigned on a Harley. Still, how much harm could Ventura do? He had been elected to a part-time job; most of the work was done by a paid manager.

Ventura's campaign galvanized younger Minnesotans. They swarmed to the polls to register and vote on Election Day--Minnesota law allows same-day registration--in such numbers that some polling places ran out of ballots and had to run off copies. This surge of new voters explains why Minnesota's 61% election turnout was the highest in the nation.

Ventura is plainly not the knucklehead he has sometimes pretended to be. The question is not whether he can learn on the job--say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, make nice when political advantage and simple prudence dictate such a course--but whether doing so will put him at odds with his own freewheeling nature. Minnesotans and the nation at large can look forward to the unusual spectacle of a man wrestling with himself.

Questions

1. Why was Jesse Ventura's victory a stunning upset?

2. What accounts for Ventura's appeal?

Answers

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