What Minnesota could use is a politician like Jesse Ventura.

With only mild enthusiasm, I have recently been watching the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Norm Coleman.

On one hand you have Coleman, a robotic, uninteresting guy who was once an outspoken Democrat before joining the Republican party in 1996. Though recently voting differently, Coleman, since being elected to the Senate in 2002, seems more like a Bush administration follower than any sort of effective leader.

Then, of course, you have Al Franken, whose campaign has seemed kind of flaccid since he announced his candidacy more than a year ago, especially with past problems with his tax-paying record recently surfacing.

Franken, the former Saturday Night Live writer, is probably best known for his SNL character, the self-help guru Stuart Smalley, his books “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations” and “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” and his feud with Fox News bloviator Bill O’Reilly.

Then we have Ventura, who recently floated the idea of him running for the seat.

Sure, when it comes to Ventura, Minnesota has already been there, done that.

Who could forget some of his past posturing—pro prostitution, pro legalizing marijuana, pro 9/11 conspiracy—his appearances as an XFL football league commentator and a professional wrestling special guest referee or, my personal favorite, his ethnic slight of the Irish on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Then there are his decidedly anti-media actions—calling members of the media jackals was one thing; putting the nickname on state capitol press credentials was a whole other ball of wax.

Though I don’t vote in Minnesota, for the entertainment value alone I could see myself supporting Ventura in a bid for a Senate seat.

When I think of how entertaining the guy was as a governor, I can’t think of how much fun Ventura could be as a senator. Imagine “The Body,” enhanced by a microphone, on the floor of the Senate, attempting to filibuster. The possibilities, and the laughs, would be endless. People might actually watch C-Span.

As a senator, Ventura would have several effects: first, he would likely bring a lot of attention to the political process, which I believe is always needed. Second, I imagine him having a disruptive influence on the process, bringing attention to and exposing a lot of things about our political process that don’t get nearly enough attention.

Ventura probably couldn’t screw things up too bad. As governor, he held a powerful single vote. As a senator his wild-card vote would be one of 100. Worst-case scenario: he serves a six-year term, is ineffective, and gets voted out.

It was Coleman, by the way, who Ventura beat out for his single gubernatorial term in 2002.

He could do it again.