Jesse Ventura, Libertarian Candidate for President?

Politico's Reid Epstein reports that while former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has expressed interest in pursuing the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination, the LP has a different choice:

Libertarian officials are still hoping Ron Paul will reconsider and seek their nomination at the Las Vegas convention in May. Barring that, they confirmed, they're pursuing the interest Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has expressed to them about coming back into the arena to run on their line….

At Ventura's instigation, [Libertarian Party chairman Mark] Hinkle said he spoke two weeks ago with the former Minnesota governor and pro wrestler, who was elected in 1998 on the Reform Party line, about running for president but came away with the impression that Ventura is looking beyond 2012.

"Jesse is more interested in 2016 than he is in 2012," Hinkle said. "But I think he's serious. If Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian, I think he definitely would be interested in running as a vice presidential candidate. He's thinking, 'If I run as the vice presidential candidate under Ron Paul in 2012, I could run as a presidential candidate in 2016."

Ventura wrote a book a few years ago with the plaintive title Don't Start the Revolution Without Me, so yeah, he probably would be quite happy to piggyback along with Paul in the hopes of positioning himself for 2016. But will registered Libertarian Party voters go for it? Ventura may sometimes do a good job of spotlighting various government misdeeds and excesses, but he's also a hardcore conspiracy theorist who's more likely to alienate potential voters than he is to attract them.

Still, Ventura knows how to put on a show and he's always ready for the spotlight. I expect he'll throw his feather boa in the ring.

Click here to read Reason's Ventura archives.