Harvard man Ventura ponders run for White House in 2008

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Karen Testa, Associated Press April 16, 2004


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Refreshed from a semester as a visiting professor at Harvard, former pro wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says he's considering a run for the White House in 2008, though he acknowledges being leader of the free world might be too confining for him.


``Everywhere I go in Boston, people tell me, 'Run Jesse Run.' They say 'The country needs you,''' Ventura said in an interview with The Associated Press at his office at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where his semester ends Friday.

``What would hold me back would be my family. The brutality of the campaign, the ruthlessness of the Democrats and Republicans,'' he said. ``If it looks like I might win, there's no telling what they would do. They're very desperate people when it comes to third parties.''

Charles Krupa
Associated Press

Ventura, 52, shocked the political establishment in 1998, when he used his message of social liberalism and fiscal conservatism - and his sizable personality - to defeat two better-known and better-funded major-party candidates.

But he left office four years later, disillusioned and discouraged after a frustrating final year.

His semester at Harvard - including parties until the wee hours - have renewed his faith in America and his political ambitions, he said.

``The best way I can describe it is rehab,'' Ventura said. ``For someone getting out of office like me, even though I've been out for over a year now, it's equivalent I think to an alcoholic or the drug addict going to the Betty Ford clinic.''

Harvard took a calculated risk in inviting the boisterous Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, talk-show host and movie star with only a high school diploma whose pro wrestling persona, The Body, draped himself in a pink feather boa.

Harvard Institute of Politics director Dan Glickman, the former congressman and Clinton administration agriculture secretary, said he knew some people privately questioned whether Ventura belonged. Yet by the end of the semester, some faculty poked around Ventura's office, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man whose study groups were unconventional but always well attended.

``Quite frankly, he's an important historical force in American politics,'' Glickman said.

Glickman has heard Ventura is leaving campus with a sense of renewal - and 31 pounds trimmer after working out with varsity athletes and jogging three miles a day on a treadmill. He told Ventura he shouldn't give the impression that a semester as a Harvard fellow is like going to a spa.

``This was not designed as a training ground for a future presidential race,'' Glickman said. ``But if he chooses to take his experience and run for the president, more power to him.''

He's not made a firm decision on a presidential run, but he certainly speaks like a man preparing to be a candidate.

He says he'll decide next year, because he'll need plenty of time to get on the ballot. And he won't have a political affiliation - ``No party, no nothing,'' he says, removing a half-masticated Cohiba cigar from his mouth.

He's already come up with a campaign message. ``It would be: Elect someone who truly is not controlled by special interest money. With me, you would get a true check and balance,'' Ventura said.

And he says one of his first acts would be to try to abolish the income tax in favor of a sales tax, which he says is a better indicator of wealth.

Harvard law student d Carson, 27, of Kankakee, Ill., admires Ventura's centrist politics.

``He definitely should run,'' she said. ``I'd love to work on his campaign.''

Ventura acknowledges the White House could be too restrictive for him. He's fond of saying that being president is an oxymoron: leader of the free world, with no freedom yourself.

``That's an issue with me. I love my freedom. I love to be able to jump in my Porsche and go for a drive and as president you can't do that,'' said Ventura, who owns two Porsches.

As governor, he would give his guards weekends off - something the Secret Service would not allow.

``The part that would bug me is I wouldn't be able to get up in the night and drive to the 7-11 for a Slurpee, not without them blocking off the roads, welding the manhole covers shut and everything else that goes along with it.''

He also is weighing the concerns of his wife, Terry, who has told him she won't go with him if he wins the White House. His solution: He'll move the White House to Minnesota.

Still, he's quick to note that he hasn't officially declared his candidacy.

``I could end up on the beaches of Kona (Hawaii) without a watch, knowing that when the sun comes up I get up, when it's straight overhead you eat lunch and when it goes down you stop surfing.''