[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11310]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GOVERNOR JESSE VENTURA NOT TO SEEK A SECOND TERM IN 
                                 OFFICE

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise to talk about one of most colorful, 
to put it mildly, elected officials in contemporary American politics. 
Recently, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura announced he would not seek 
a second term in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Governor Ventura took an 
unusual career path to arrive at his current position. After high 
school, Jesse Ventura volunteered for one of our Nation's toughest 
military assignments, the SEALs. He served 4 years in the Navy before 
eventually taking center stage in the wrestling ring and then as mayor 
of Brooklyn Park, MN for five years. Jesse continued his unconventional 
ways by challenging the political system and, against all odds, winning 
his gubernatorial race in 1998 against two well-established opponents. 
Now, he is exiting the political arena. As I look back, there were many 
comments made by the Governor that I disagreed with, as I did with some 
of his public policies. But Jesse Ventura's run 4 years ago was about 
more than who would run the State of Minnesota. As my hero, Theodore 
Roosevelt, said nearly a century ago, ``It is not the critic who 
counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or 
where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs 
to the man who is actually in the arena.''

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