Senator Norm Coleman Update

Coleman dismisses chance of Ventura taking him on for U.S. Senate seat

Associated Press
Last update: April 18, 2008 - 11:40 AM

ST. PAUL - Republican Norm Coleman is discounting the possibility of Jesse Ventura entering the race for U.S. Senate, as the former third-party Minnesota governor has suggested during his book tour.

During a Minnesota Public Radio call-in show, Coleman blew off the notion Ventura would take him on. Coleman says Ventura is merely trying to sell books.

He says Minnesota voters have "seen that movie. I do not think the box office for the sequel would be very large."

Ventura beat Coleman and a Democratic candidate in 1998 en route to the governor's office. Coleman won his Senate seat in 2002, the last year of Ventura's rocky term as governor.

In his own MPR appearance this week, Democratic front-runner Al Franken also dismissed a Ventura bid as a book-promotion ploy.

Ventura told The Associated Press last month that "you never say never" about an independent Senate campaign.