Ventura Says He Won't Seek Minn. Senate Seat

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

DEBORAH AMOS, host:

Now from a candidate in the midst of a heated race for office to one who decided the campaign trail just wasn't the place for him.

Mr. JESSE VENTURA (Former Professional Wrestler; Former Governor, Minnesota): I will tell you now I am not going to run at this moment.

AMOS: Yesterday evening, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura told CNN's Larry King he would not be a candidate for the U.S. Senate, at least not yesterday. Today may be a different matter. There's still time before a 5:00 filing deadline, which brought him to his second point.

Mr. VENTURA: But if between now and 5:00, maybe God comes and speaks to me like he did the president and tells me I should run, like he apparently told the president to invade Iraq, well then maybe at 5:00 tomorrow, Larry, don't call me a liar. Just understand God sent me to file.

AMOS: Well, today is Mr. Ventura's 57th birthday. Maybe God has a surprise in store.

Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.