There has been wild speculation, especially in the last couple of days, that either Dean Barkley or Jesse Ventura will run for Senate in Minnesota against Norm Coleman-(R) and Al Franken-(D).
“More or less, I’m a wrestling fan, but I also understand how important he is in the history of Minnesota,” said Tim Pulkrabek, 31, a Burnsville student who grabbed the first spot in line 21/2 hours early.
It’s a history Ventura might not be done making, if, as he hinted Thursday, he goes after the Minnesota Senate seat held by Norm Coleman, whom he defeated in 1998 for the governor’s chair. “I may go down and file,” he said, if only for the sake of voters tempted to, as he put it, mark their ballots in the “none of the above” category. If he does, he pledged not to spend more getting elected than he’d earn as a senator.
On the morning of Nov. 5, Barkley got a phone call from the governor’s office he never expected.
“Not once did he give me any inclination of what he was thinking or what he was going to do,” Barkley said of Ventura.
Against all expectations, Ventura chose him to fill the remainder of Wellstone’s term.
“So it’s a little after 9 o’clock and I find out that Jesse’s going to do this to me at 10,” Barkley said. “So I run upstairs, throw on a suit and get to the Capitol at 5 minutes to 10.”
“Wait a second,” WCCO-TV political reporter Pat Kessler said. “You’re telling me that you have no idea you’re going to be a Senator?”
“None,” Barkley said.