Ventura the Voice backs candidate

09/20/2006

Radio ad supports Independence Party

BY BRIAN BAKST
Associated Press

After years in self-imposed political exile, Jesse Ventura is back in the fray — partly by choice and partly by chance.

Ventura, who didn’t run for a second term as governor four years ago, has kept his distance from Minnesota politics since leaving office in 2003. Now, he’s starring in some out-of-the-ordinary radio ads promoting Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson.

On Friday, Ventura’s voice rumbled over the radio in two Hutchinson ads.

In one, an announcer talks about a mock incumbent who “permanently balanced the budget, made taxes and fees go away, caused Democrats and Republicans to fall madly in love. Under his leadership, crime was eliminated, pollution disappeared and every motorist was given their own lane.”

Then a gruff Ventura cuts in:

“Minnesota… can you hear me? Come in. I interrupt this broadcast to remind you that career politicians will say anything to get re-elected. In ‘98, you chose an independent. It’s time to do it again. Let’s stop the B.S. and move Minnesota forward with honesty and common sense.”

The ad is airing on FM stations in the Twin Cities and the St. Cloud area, covering a fast-growing suburban corridor where Ventura did well in his 1998 upset win. Hutchinson’s campaign didn’t disclose how much it was spending to run them for two weeks, but an official said the campaign’s entire ad budget will be less than $500,000 between now and November.

Hutchinson said he hopes the ads remind people how they felt when they spurned Republican and DFL candidates then.

“It encourages them to think again about claiming their independence,” he said.