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Summary
Summary
While many commentators and political scientists dismissed Jesse Ventura's rise to the governorship as a fluke of celebrity, Jacob Lentz shows that it was Minnesota's unique electoral rules, coupled with on-target campaign dynamics, that enabled a third-party candidate to reach office. In this first complete account of Ventura's victory, Lentz draws on tantalizing details from the actual race to show that campaigns definitely do matter. Interviews with key players, exit polls, analyses of media coverage, and assessments of advertisements and debate performance also contribute to a compelling case study of U.S. politics at the state and local level. Moving beyond old theories about structural barriers to fringe candidates, Electing Jesse Ventura makes it abundantly clear that third-party candidates can seize the favor of the U.S. electorate - and actually benefit from their lack of ties to the major parties - by emphasizing their pragmatism and independence.
Author Notes
Jacob Lentz, a native Minnesotan, is a scholar of political science.
Reviews (2)
Choice Review
Lentz offers a brief and very readable analysis of one of the more interesting state elections in recent memory, the 1998 election of Jesse Ventura. This work serves as a good model of an election case study. The introduction briefly considers the unique political culture of Minnesota. A narrative account of the 1998 gubernatorial race follows, giving special attention to the Ventura campaign. This narrative is based on newspaper accounts and numerous interviews with candidates and campaign operatives. Lentz considers impact not only of commercials and the debates, which were very important, but also of events such as the state fair where Ventura was able to meet a large number of voters. The author then analyzes the possible causes of Ventura's victory. His thesis is that Ventura's celebrity status certainly played a great part, but that the laws concerning party status and public funding of campaigns in Minnesota played a more significant role. In this respect, the work is a useful contribution to the literature on third parties. While the book makes careful use of voting data, readers are not overwhelmed by jargon or mathematical formulae. Recommended for lower- and upper-division undergraduates. M. Coulter Grove City College
Library Journal Review
Jesse Ventura's volatile but appealing personality was a less significant factor in his 1998 election as Minnesota's governor than the state's unique political environment, concludes Lentz, a native Minnesotan and political science scholar. Minnesota provides generous election campaign funds for established third parties and is one of only seven states that allows residents to register and vote on the same day. Almost 70 percent of these election-day registrants voted for Reform Party candidate Ventura over State Attorney General Skip Humphrey (Democratic Farm Labor Party) and St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman (Republican Party). The media did not take Ventura's campaign seriously until late into the election and therefore paid less attention to his vague platform than to those of the two major candidates. In addition, nasty fighting between Humphrey and Coleman and support of the "dudes" working-class men and women with family incomes of less than $50,000 helped give Ventura, the former professional wrestler, 37 percent of the vote enough to elect him. Lentz presents an engaging investigation of Ventura's victory and what it might mean for future third-party candidates. Recommended for academic and most public libraries. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. ix |
| Acknowledgments | p. xi |
| 1 Introduction: The Significance of Minnesota | p. 1 |
| 2 The 1998 Gubernatorial Race | p. 15 |
| 3 Analyzing Ventura's Victory | p. 65 |
| 4 Lessons for Political Science | p. 103 |
| 5 Conclusion | p. 129 |
| Appendix A Unofficial Vote for Governor, by County | p. 135 |
| Appendix B Poll Results During the Race for Governor | p. 137 |
| Appendix C Content Analysis | p. 139 |
| Bibliography | p. 147 |
| Index | p. 158 |
| About the Book | p. 164 |
