# Jesse Ventura
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 26, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944 "2002-10-26T04:34:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/1 "2002-10-26T04:34:08Z")
I just got to thinking, when I was in high school, I was told that one of the problems with a third party candidate for Governor or President is that there would be nobody in the Legislature or Congress who was a member of that party.
But Jesse Ventura was a third party candidate and even though I don’t know that much about Minnesota politics, hasn’t he done OK as governor? What I mean by that is, not having third party legislatures hasn’t been too much of a problem for him, has it? Or are there third party legislatures?
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/2 "2002-10-26T04:52:43Z")
The presence or absence of third-party legislators at the _Federal_ level does little to influence the _state_ level. Remember that this is a Federal Republic, where the states are left mainly to their own as far as local administration goes.
Unless the governor had aspirations of influencing Federal policy, he’d be more concerned with the makeup of his own legislature.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/3 "2002-10-26T06:19:20Z")
That’s what I asked about. I specifically asked if the lack of third party members in the LEGISLATURE has been much of a hindrance for him.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/4 "2002-10-26T13:10:28Z")
IANA Minnesotan, but my daughter says Jesse has done very little during his tenure as Governor. However, she wasn’t sure whether that was because he attempted legislative changes that were blocked in the legislature, or because he didn’t attempt much in the way of legislation.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/5 "2002-10-26T14:34:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \*
> \*\*IANA Minnesotan, but my daughter says Jesse has done very little during his tenure as Governor. However, she wasn’t sure whether that was because he attempted legislative changes that were blocked in the legislature, or because he didn’t attempt much in the way of legislation. \*\*
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If the economy of Minnesota is doing reasonably well, the governor could be well-advised not to monkey around with it.
The real test, though, is how well Ventura will perform when things are going badly. I think trying to make the Minnesota Comptroller eat a turnbuckle will only work in the short-term.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/6 "2002-10-26T21:14:42Z")
Yeah, other than his controvercial statements, I haven’t heard that he’s done much of anything, but then again, I don’t live in Minnesota either.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/7 "2002-10-27T03:06:43Z")
I don’t know if he’s a qualified source, but look up some stuff former MST3K host Michael J. Nelson has said about Ventura. Nelson thinks the guy’s a joke.
Hey…idea-NELSON FOR GOV!!!
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/8 "2002-10-27T04:10:32Z")
IAAMinnesotan. Jesse’s big ideas were a unicameral legislature, and light rail between the down town Twin Cities and the Mall of America. And gaining money and name recognition for himself.
So far, he has succeeded only at the last.
His latest idea is to resign early so Mae Shunk, his lieutenant governor, can become Minnsota’s first woman governor. I rather doubt he can give up the limelight even for a few days.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-ventura/133944/9 "2002-10-27T04:12:55Z")
I am no longer a Minnesotan, but I was a political science major at Carleton College. Prof. Steven Schier, my former advisor, is a regular political commentator in print and on air; his view of Gov. Ventura is quite dim. Schier has written that Ventura has accomplished little other than bombast, which was fine when the state’s economy perked along with the rest of the nation’s but doesn’t help matters much now that Minnesota’s confronting a deficit. The governor’s announcement that he wouldn’t run for reelection is viewed as a concession that he probably couldn’t win, even in the sort of three-way race that landed him in office with a mere plurality of votes.