Brown and Brawn: 2 Old Pros Inaugurated in New Arenas

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Surrounded by the people who voted for him--a gas station attendant who works the night shift, a young mother in a “My governor can beat up your governor” T-shirt--Jesse “The Body” Ventura placed one meaty hand on a Bible Monday, raised the other meaty hand in the air and took the oath of the highest public office in Minnesota.

A cheer came down from the three-story Capitol rotunda, and the onetime Navy SEAL who became famous as a delightfully nasty pro wrestler with a taste for pink feather boas raised his arms and turned a slow circle, waving at 1,500 of his grinning constituents.

Then, after a short speech--unscripted as always, pledging hard work and honest politics and ending with a bellowing “Hooo-Yaa!”--he invited them all over to the next room to gab a bit, meet the family, have some cake.

And everyone seemed to be chuckling because the longest shot in gubernatorial politics this season, a Reform Party candidate who even the most generous pundits were still writing off at 8 p.m. on election day, was the 38th governor of Minnesota.

“I voted straight Republican for 20 years,” said 38-year-old Patrick Passe, an unemployed truck driver from nearby Blaine. “Same old, same old. They had their chance. Now it’s his.”

And the day was his from the get-go.

Regular Guy Draws Regular Supporters

It was 11 degrees below zero when the pickups and station wagons, 4-bys and Cadillacs began rolling up to the Capitol for Ventura’s open house inauguration.

A few folks came bundled in $500 Hugo Boss full-length wool coats. A handful even wore furs. Most, however, came as they were--as Ventura was on the campaign trail--clad in work boots and stocking caps, flannel shirts and snow suits.

A Coca Cola delivery man jockeyed for position in the crowd in his green-and-red uniform. Another man had his ski goggles perched atop his head throughout the ceremony, during which Lt. Gov. Mae Schunk, as Hollywood pal Arnold Schwarzenegger and a host of political notables looked on, and four other officials also were sworn in.

A children’s choir sang a rap song. Another choir performed a soulful, a cappella version of “America the Beautiful” for the new governor, who during more than one interview has pontificated on the glories of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

“Never been to an inaugurational thing before. Thought I’d check it out,” said Dan Birch, 25, a community college student who’s thinking of being a physicist, or maybe an attorney, or maybe going into politics himself. “Pretty cool.”

From the beginning of his campaign, Ventura--whose previous occupations also included radio talk-show host, movie actor and mayor of the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park--courted young, uninterested voters. He crafted a rollicking Internet site, railed against high taxes, decried politics-as-usual during visits to college campuses.

On election day, 60% of eligible voters turned out, the highest percentage of any state. Some 15% of the ballots were cast by people who, under state law, were allowed to register and vote the same day, many of them males under 30, pollsters said.

“These young people want to be part of the system, want to vote and take part in the great thing we have here called the United States of America and the state of Minnesota,” Ventura said Monday, clenching the sides of the lectern.

In the wake of the election, Ventura’s efforts to simultaneously operate within the system and boisterously, joyfully deride it have begun to cause concern among some loyal supporters.

Gone are the T-shirts that showed off the 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound Ventura’s biceps, replaced by tailored dark suits. His Harley-Davidson--a newer version of the bike he rode in the 1970s with the Southern California motorcycle gang the Mongols--is now garaged. He travels by chauffeured Lincoln Town Car.

He uses words like “prudent.”

Most troubling, taxi driver Tesfay Woldemichael said Monday, is he has at times behaved like the politicians he lambasted.

During the campaign, Ventura repeatedly pledged to return an expected tax surplus of $3.3 billion. After winning and getting a better look at the books, he balked. “I will be prudent,” he said in December.

Following the election, “The Body” pledged to become “The Mind.” But voters had two other “minds” to choose from on Nov. 3--then-state Atty. Gen. Hubert H. Humphrey III, a Democrat, and St. Paul’s Republican Mayor Norm Coleman. Instead, they went with the candidate who can perform the much-feared Atomic Knee Drop.

The political outsider, who found out just last week that it was the governor’s job to appoint judges, has taken note of his constituents’ concerns.

Dressed in a black suit with a rose boutonniere, he began his speech Monday relating some advice he received recently from high schoolers in rural Austin, Minn.

“I asked them, I said: ‘You know, I’m assuming this office, and all during the campaign I never used a note, I never used a prepared speech, ever.’ And I asked those high school kids in Austin, ‘Should I change?’ And they said absolutely not.

“I’m not changing,” he growled.

Certainly, many things about him are not.

Festivities Are Just Beginning

Monday’s swearing-in marked only the beginning of Ventura’s inauguration festivities. The party will go on for two more weeks--twice as long as any previous inaugural wingding.

It will culminate Jan. 16 with “the people’s celebration.” No $1,000-a-plate gala, tickets to this event are $10, $15 and $20, and are available through Ticketmaster.

The party originally was scheduled for Jan. 15, but another of Ventura’s musical favorites, 17-year-old blues rocker Jonny Lang, couldn’t make it. He had a concert in Atlanta that night.

So the governor changed the date, notified the state and will send a plane to fetch the youngster and his band.

A video excerpt of Jesse Ventura’s inauguration as Minnesota’s governor is on The Times’ Web site. https:// www.latimes.com/jesseventura