Jesse Ventura Not Running For Senate

The former, colorful Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura announced that he will not be running for the Senate as an independent on CNN's “Larry King Live,” deciding to stay out of an already-entertaining Senate campaign between Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and comedian Al Franken.

“I am telling you know I will not run at this moment…As of now at this minute I’m not running,,” said Ventura, citing family concerns. “You have to want to get into this fray and your family has to want to get into it as well… this is some of the dilemma I go through, do I want to put my family on the firing line again…I’ve looked hard at what it takes and I feel very strongly and maybe I’m not religious enough. I don’t go to church and I don’t have a reverend.”

Ventura left open the possibility if that God convinces him otherwise in the next day, he could reconsider – though that prospect seems unlikely. The filing deadline to qualify for the Minnesota ballot is tomorrow.

Ventura first suggested hints of a political comeback in a National Public Radio interview last Friday. He then told NPR correspondent David Welna that he would run for the Senate largely because of Coleman’s support for the Iraq war – and his own opposition to it.

He just came out with his book, “Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me,” the story of his tenure as Minnesota’s governor and a narrative of his own anti-establishment political beliefs.
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