Ventura now appears to be backing Kerry



Question: Will this have any impact on elections with Ventura coming out for Kerry?




Edited to fix link -Jaime

Question: Will this have any impact on elections with Ventura coming out for Kerry?


My first inclination was "eh, so what" but as i think about it, this could be significant.

Ventura had his problems as a governor -- he was a pretty lousy beaurocrat and like it or not, its hard to be governor when you have not mastered Civics 101.

Despite this, he was popular, especially with a demographic that did not typically vote or pay attention to politics. And i would hazard that he still holds sway with this group who probably paid less attention to his problems with budgets and legislative failures than his Jesse the Body Ventura Sticks to The Man style of poltics

so yeah, in a state where 10 electoral votes are very much up for grabs, this is a popular, independent personality who will bring votes to Kerry, despite his somewhat bizzare press conference.

Of course, I could be wrong
JAC

Will this have any impact on elections with Ventura coming out for Kerry?

To say that Ventura will have an impact on the out come is like saying Arnold will have an impact on the election. As Governor of California, Arnold has strongly backed Bush in this election, and as advertise such in California, yet Kerry holds 7% in California. I don't think Arnold has had much od an impact.

Which state was he govern of? Is it a swing state? Does he still hold enough popularity in the state to swing it one way or the other?

I think Ventura can have an impact in the election. His endorsement alone would not me a big mover. it might have influence enough to keep Minnesota on the Democratic side. Bush has largely neglected California and his role in the energy crisis largely did him in the minds of many Californians. Arnold does have a tremendous ability to generate publicity as does Ventura. Either could be formidable if they were active enough in their campaigning.

Sad to say you dont know that he is the former governor of a swing state yehoshua, but he is. Minnesota is one of the swing states. All you have to do is look thru different threads to see people not even from Minn. like Ventura and would support him possibly in a running for the pres. to see his endorsement might have some resonance, especially since just a few weeks ago he said he would not vote for either of them but has changed his mind after watching the debates.

Will this have any impact on elections with Ventura coming out for Kerry?
My honest answer is, I don't know. It is certainly true that Ventura is very popular with certain groups of people. It is also true that some people feel he should run for President. I don't really know enough about him to make a judgement on whether I agree with his policies or not.

However, if you happen to admire Ventura and if you happen to be one of the 3 truely undecided voters in America then maybe his endorsement might mean something to you.

I sincerely doubt that anything short of some catastrophic event nationally or some scandal or blunder by one of the candidates is going to sway the people that have already made up their minds. Many of those people would have preferred to vote back in June and be done with the election because they have known that long.

And while Minnesota is technically a battleground state, I think it is most likely going to be a blue state this election. If you check Real Clear Politics Bush has only led or been tied with Kerry in 7 polls since march. The majority of those polls are either Rassmussen or Gallup (both of which lean right) and I'm not sure what the Mason-Dixon poll is about.

from the same link:

This is significant in that it represents not so much of a call to other Independents to back Kerry as much as it is an indication that Independents have been disappointed by Bush's failures.

We're all like a bunch of women trying to ascertain the gender of a woman's unborn child by looking at the way the mom is carrying it (high or low) or by dangling a wedding ring held suspended by a string over her belly to see if the ring moves in circles or back and forth. With the influx of brand new voters and many voters possessing cellular phones rather than land lines on which they can be surveyed by pollsters, we really just need to "wait and see."

But it is refreshing to know of more likely voters who are actually examining Mr. Bush's record as opposed to relying on Republican soundbites.

But here is a report of a poll of non-voters that prides itself on being more accurate than the grownup polls:

Kids pick Kerry

I have never heard of a meeker endorsement. I think Ventura is actually going to have to either in writing , or in verbal speech, endorse Kerry. I don't see people voting Kerry based on such a bizarre endorsement. It is like he is ashamed to support Kerry.

The Kids poll failed to pick the winner of the popular vote in 2000. It was off by 11% points, hardly a reliable poll.

The kids' poll could hardly have encompassed foreknowledge of the Supreme Court getting involved or hanging chads, either. Did you prognosticate that, Hugo?

Could you have done any better?

I agree that Ventura's endorsement of Kerry was unusual. If he was too ashamed of endorsing Kerry to speak it himself, how much more ashamed must he be of our President? Maybe Ventura's not so good at eating humble pie.

*As a matter of fact, there are those of us in this country who still maintain that Bush stole the election. He certainly didn't get it fair and square, but that's the subject for another thread.

Yep, PE, I figured Bush would win in 2000 by about 3% points, I was 8 points closer than those kids. I also foresaw within 3 or 4 percentage points the popular vote totals for the major Presidential candidates in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 elections. I also have a longer track record than them kids, correctly predicting the winners of the 1980 and 1984 elections. Them 2-11 year olds got some growing up to do before they can fill my shoes.

The point is such a pathetic endorsement will do little to help Kerry, not even in Minnesota, and probably makes a lot of people question Ventura. I think Ventura spent too much time in La-La-Land.

The other point is that scientific polls, of potential voters, do a good job of predicting within the margin of error. If things don't change in the next couple of weeks Bush will win the popular vote, and it is highly improbable a Republican can win the popular vote and lose the election. There is only one state where Ventura's "ringing" endorsement might help Kerry, we can watch the Minnesota polls over the next few days.

Jesse Ventura endorses Kerry? Whoopee-do.

The only endorsement by an independent that could possibly help John Kerry in any way, shape or form is if Ralph Nader provided it.

Not. bloody. likely.

I tend to agree with Hugo here...

Ventura is so excited about Kerry that he can't even put his "endorsement" in words.

I highly doubt that Ventura can persuade any undecideds without at least verbalizing his position.

This seems so strange.

For Amlord's and Hugo's edification:
Jesse Ventura visits campus

This article should dispel any doubts.

Question: Will this have any impact on elections with Ventura coming out for Kerry?


From what I can gather, that is who he plans on voting for and that he isn['t going to over do it helping Kerry campaign.


ABC News 5

Unlike Schwarzenegger, it sounds as if Ventura has no plans on traveling across Minnesota or any other state for that matter, to help Kerry campaign. Because of that, I would say that his support isn't worth a lot to Kerry.



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It has at least this much impact: I've now lost all confidence in Ventura's judgement, and if he does decide to run in 2008, I won't be supporting him.