Former wrestler and radio jock had shock win with low-budget street `revolution'

The FIRST time James George Janos reinvented himself was 23 years ago, when he broke into professional wrestling and needed a catchy stage name to put fans in the seats. The name "Jesse" appealed to the outlaw in him. He plucked Ventura from a map of California.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura has been reinventing himself ever since. As a professional wrestler, a bit actor in action movies and a radio shock-jock, he has always managed to put fans in the seats. But he clearly outdid himself in Tuesday's gubernatorial election.

With little more than a gift of the gab, $400,000 in cash and a throw-the-bums-out populism, Ventura electrified Minnesota's electorate and ambushed two major party politicians to become the nation's first Reform Party governor.

"We shocked the world," a downtown billboard read here. "New Governor?" another asked. "Ventura a Guess." A shop added a "The Body" sandwich to its menu. Ventura was the talk of the town, in Minnesota and elsewhere, someone who has remade himself into one of the United States' pre-eminent political iconoclasts.

"I guess a lot more politicians are going to start going to the gym now," President Clinton said in reference to the 6 4", 260lb Ventura.

"In 1964," Ventura himself said, "Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship. In 1980 the United States Olympic hockey team beat the Russians. Dreams do come true in America."

Ventura's celebrity, tough-guy image and shoot-from-the hip theatrics played a big role in his success. Nearly 63 per cent of the voters in this state went to the polls, rivalling turnout in a presidential election year. But Ventura's surprising win was more than quixotic. It offered real lessons on campaign finance reform and demonstrated the possibilities that come with decoupling money from politics.

That is what Minnesota sought to do nearly a decade ago when it enacted reforms to limit campaign spending while providing third-party candidates with a public subsidy if they receive at least 5 per cent of the vote in the state's September primary. That, as much as anything, got Ventura's cashpoor campaign in the game once he received 10 per cent of the vote in the primary, political scientists, pollsters and party officials explained.

Because of the state finance laws, all three gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota spent less than $5 million combined. The state has a relatively small population of about 4.5 million people, but that figure still pales in comparison with the estimated $13 million spent by Governor-Elect George Ryan of Illinois.

"There's no doubt that this couldn't have happened without Minnesota's campaign finance laws," said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield. "By qualifying for the public subsidy, Jesse got just enough money to keep pace with [Hubert] Humphrey and [Norm] Coleman."

In addition, when Ventura was finally able to buy radio and television ads, he hit home-runs with comical, irreverent ads that used the theme from Shaft as his campaign song; portrayed Ventura as an action figure battling Evil Special Interest Man; and Ventura posing as Rodin's The Thinker.

Thirty-three per cent of all Democrats voted for Ventura; a quarter of the Republicans did.

"He was able to energise a lot of people," said Tony Sutton, executive director for the state GOP. "A lot of young people who typically don't turn out to vote came out to vote just for him. "

A high school graduate, Ventura seemed to capture the imagination of people who consider themselves average Joes, said Schier. That, he said, is the fundamental flaw with both Republicans and Democrats in the state, who seem out of touch with the electorate. Neither party has sent an endorsed candidate to the governor's mansion in 12 years.

"The mainstream voter was able to connect with Jesse in a way that the Republicans and Democrats just don't seem to be able to anymore," Schier said. "When a guy named Humphrey only gets 28 per cent of the vote in a statewide election, the Democrats in Minnesota have truly reached a new low."

It remains to be seen how Ventura can work with a state senate controlled by the Democrats and a state house controlled by Republicans. There is not a single Reform Party elected official in either chamber, and some party officials speculate that without any political allies Ventura may be limited in building any legislative consensus.

Still, many hope that his election will represent a turning point in American politics.

"I hope that this will show people what can be achieved when you can pare down the influence of money on the political system," said Todd Paulson, executive director for Minnesota's Common Cause, a good government advocacy group. "It's the closest thing I've ever seen to a revolution."