Ventura: No White House Run

It's been less than a year since former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura shot to the center of the political ring by pinning the governorship of Minnesota.

Neither a Democrat or a Republican, Ventura is the political darling of the pundits, and with the Reform Party casting about for a presidential candidate, it's no surprise his name is mentioned.

However, on CBS News Face the Nation Sunday, he said he's not interested.

"First of all, I never said that I wanted to run for president," he told CBS News Special Correspondent Gloria Borger. "That's totally media-created. You know, if the media doesn't have a story, they'll create one and that's what they did there.

"No, I'm not a candidate for president. I'm committed to fulfilling my term as governor in the state of Minnesota," he said.

He said he'll decide in about three years whether he wants to run for reelection as governor.

"What if there's a 'Draft Jesse' movement?" Borger persisted.

"I enlisted in the Navy, they never drafted me into the military either," Ventura answered. "So if I wasn't drafted into the military, they're certainly not going to draft me into that either."

Ventura at the National Governors Association meeting Saturday (AP)

And would he consider running for vice president on the Reform Party ticket? "I would only do that if General Colin Powell were running for president," and he doesn't expect that to happen "in any way, shape or form."

"I'm happy of being governor of Minnesota," he declared. "That's where I want to be."

However, another place he apparently wants to be is in the pro wrestling ring, where he's scheduled to referee a match later this month.

He insisted there's nothing wrong with that.

"I'm a citizen governor," he said. "If I were a former NBA player and I came back to referee an NBA basketball game, would I be getting...this criticism?" Probably not."

He also said it's no different than a former actor-turned-governor taking a few days to act in a movie, and he added that the fact that he's refereeing and not wrestling makes a difference.

Ventura also pointed out that there's quite a bit of popularity support for pro wrestling.

Ventura as a wrestler (AP)

Ventura said that to criticize a governor for participating in pro wrestling is snobbery, and blamed it on "a bunch of high brows that want to pretend that it's demeaning."

He added that Minnesota voters knew he had been professional wrestler before electing him.

The governor said he doesn't work on Sundays, and the match is scheduled for a Sunday evening, his day off. "What I choose to do on my own time is my business and nobody else's."