I do not doubt Jesse Ventura is a very intelligent man and a brave soldier, but I doubt those things got him elected into office. His name and his star power were probably the greatest contributing factor to being elected.
Actually your wrong it, Jesse didn't get much attention until
MINNESOTA MADE Ventura's race possible because it provides matching funds for candidates who get more than 5% of the vote. Because Ventura was getting much more than that in the polls, he was able to get a bank to loan him $300,000 so he could run TV ads in the last two weeks of the campaign. Ventura hired Bill Hillsman, who created the humorous and highly effective ads that helped U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone upset Rudy Boschwitz in 1990.
One of Ventura's ads showed two kids playing with the "Jesse Ventura action figure" who battles with the "special interest" man. In another ad Ventura wore nothing but boxer shorts, sitting in the position of Rodin's "Thinker," while the narrator talks about Jesse "The Mind" Ventura's positions. It ends with a close-up of Jesse's face as he winks at the camera.
State laws also limited the major party candidates to expenditures of $2 million each, so they could not drown out Ventura's ads (although their parties and allied political action committees were able to spend more). Ventura spent an estimated $500,000.
This was his platform:
Ventura ran as someone who was not a career politician, who spoke the language of working folks and would say whatever was on his mind. A vote for Jesse was a poke in the eye and a chair over the head of the establishment while the referee wasn't looking.
Ventura's positions may be described as fiscally conservative and socially liberal with a libertarian streak. He's pro-choice on abortion and supports domestic partnership benefits for gay couples. He's open to the legalization of drugs and prostitution. But he's no progressive. He attacks "big government," and calls for unspecified tax cuts to refund all budget surplus to the taxpayers. He claims that class sizes can be reduced without providing any additional money to schools through "more efficient use of funds." His popularity among college students came despite his opposition to state aid for college students (he says they should work their way through college). He also opposes state subsidies for day care and "socialized medicine."