The Ghost of 1998: Why Minnesota's 2026 Race Won't Yield Another Jesse Ventura - David Schutz

[question everything]

(snip)

The 1998 election was an unusual year with an unusual candidate. Minnesota had a multibillion-dollar surplus and a strong economy. Voters were in a good mood and willing to take a chance on an alternative. Jesse Ventura was what I call a “politainer” candidate, someone who combined politics and entertainment and understood how to use celebrity status politically—much like what Donald Trump understands.

Ventura had high name recognition and a large following. He ran against boring career politicians, Norm Coleman and Skip Humphrey, who both ran lackluster campaigns. Campaign finance laws at the time made it possible for a third-party candidate to run and for a third party to achieve major-party status on the ballot.

There was also a residual effect of Minnesota’s long tradition of nonpartisan politics. From the early twentieth century until the 1970s, only constitutional offices were partisan. The legislature, courts, and local offices were nonpartisan. That legacy of party detachment still lingered in the 1990s. Put all this together, and Ventura won, as one reporter friend told me at the time, because 37 percent of Minnesota voters gave the state the finger.

It was a statement against career politicians and politics as usual. But things have changed dramatically since then. One of the biggest turning points came just two years later with Florida in 2000 and the Bush versus Gore election. That contest accelerated the polarization of American politics.

It also featured Ralph Nader’s third-party candidacy. Many came to believe that Nader cost Al Gore the presidency. As a result, the spoiler effect took hold, creating fear that voting third party would elect the candidate one liked least. In Minnesota, the two major parties responded by making it much harder for third parties to gain major-party status and ballot access.

https://minneapolistimes.com/the-ghost-of-1998-why-minnesotas-2026-race-wont-yield-another-jesse-ventura/

[moniss]

1. Ralph Nader was Bobby Kennedy Jr. without the

family name. The biggest thing about Ralph is that when he was shown to be wrong about anything he was unwilling to ever admit it. Any factual information that didn't support his preconceived conclusions was simply ignored by Nader. He was an early embodiment of what we see with people today "doing their own research", ala Aaron Rodgers and others, where they have a desired conclusion and then go digging for information to weave into a narrative to support their conclusion.

Consumer Reports has a similar problem of not admitting being wrong or of slanting how they present their reports and revealing their bias. For example they would write reports on car comparisons where a Japanese model would have a rear leg room measurement that was stated as "adequate" and cite a measurement and in the same article when comparing an American model in that size class they would say the leg room was "cramped" even though the American model was identical in measurement.

I used to look at CR reviews for electronics etc. and, for example a stereo receiver, they would say the knobs were flimsy feeling etc. Always some negative adjectives thrown around. But when I would go to the electronics store and check the model they panned there was no problem of flimsy feeling knobs etc. Others have noticed things about CR as well and this link goes into some of what people have found.

https://www.gadgetreview.com/is-consumer-reports-faking-product-tests

[DemocracyForever]

2. Voting 3rd party helps GOP

There's no better example of how voting 3rd party helps the GOP than what Nader did in 2000. I have no doubt that Al Gore would've gotten most of the 97,000 Florida votes that went to Nader. Nader got the GOP to pay for his $5 million tv ad campaign that was run in crucial states like Florida. Sadly, enough voters in Florida bought Nader's big lie that there were no differences between Al Gore and Bush. Nader was in Miami the weekend before the 2000 election. Nader made it possible for Bush to get close enough in Florida to have Bush brother Jeb and Florida Bush campaign co-chair Katherine Harris refuse to count the uncounted Florida votes which then made it possible for the GOP controlled U.S. Supreme Court to violate the U.S. constitution in order to not count all of the uncounted Florida votes and appoint Bush. It was the Supreme Court appointed Bush who put Roberts and Alito on the court which made the terrible Citizen's United ruling possible and paved the way for the catastrophic Dobbs decision. There would be no Trump today without this.

[question everything]

3. Well said. I wonder whether Venura has been the exception. And welcome to DU