Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports that Governor Jesse Ventura spent the day in St Cloud, talking with students at St. Cloud Tech High School about the importance of voting. Ventura says it's part of his effort to increase turn out at the polls this November. He will also raise money for the Independence Party's U.S. Senate candidate, Jim Gibson.
TIM POST: It's about 1,700 St. Cloud Tech High School students gathered at an assembly this morning. It had all the feel of a pep rally, which it was in one sense, a rally to get students excited about voting. Governor Ventura was there to stress that students could be a force in politics, especially when they turn 18.
Ventura told the crowd that today's political system doesn't pay attention to young people because, traditionally, they don't have high voter turnout. Sprinkling stories about the Navy SEALs through his pitch of the importance of staying in school and paying taxes and voting when old enough, Ventura held the interest of the crowd. From student response afterwards, it seems he got his message across.
SPEAKER 1: I thought it was really good. I think young Americans should have more impact on voting.
SPEAKER 2: Just being who he is, he gets kids interested in voting.
TIM POST: And the fact Ventura was talking to a large group of potential voters for the 2002 governor's race, where he could be a candidate, wasn't lost on Tech High School principal Roger Ziemann.
ROGER ZIEMANN: In a general sense, the kids should get more involved. And me being an activist from the 60s, I've always believed that. On the other hand, it was good for the governor because he knows that that's his voter base, the young people that got him elected to begin with. And so it was a little bit self-serving. But in general, it was a good message.
TIM POST: In the afternoon, Ventura delivered a similar message to voting-age students at St. Cloud State University. And tonight he's trying to get the adults to get out and vote, particularly for Independence Party Senate candidate James Gibson. Ventura attends a $100-a-plate Gibson fundraiser. Ventura says he'll do what he can for Gibson in the coming weeks.
JESSE VENTURA: You don't necessarily have to pick the far left and the far right, what you're being offered out there, that there is a centrist candidate in Jim Gibson, the same as me, and that if people who voted for me vote for him.
TIM POST: There could be an element of enlightened self-interest in Ventura's support of James Gibson. If, as the Independence Party's sole candidate for statewide office this fall, Gibson gets less than 5% of the vote, the party will lose major party status. That would mean a Ventura re-election bid would have to petition to get on the ballot and would not be entitled to public campaign funding. Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio, Collegeville.
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