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Former Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the one-time wrestler, movie actor and improbable chief executive of Minnesota, strongly hinted at a run against Republican Senator Norm Coleman in November in a weekend interview with National Public Radio, adding another wrinkle to one of the most contentious Senate contests in the country.

Told his would-be opponents, Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, he would run or hint at a run to try to sell his latest book, Ventura said he would run to oppose Coleman's support for the war in Iraq. "That's the reason I run, not to sell books. I run because it angers me," Ventura told NPR. "All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide, if you're in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you."

Ventura has said he will not officially announce until next Tuesday, the filing deadline, but close political ally Dean Barkley has been dropping hints for months, as Kyle Trygstad wrote in this space last month. Barkley, who ran Ventura's gubernatorial campaign and served as Senator for the few months after a plane crash took the life of Democrat Paul Wellstone in 2002, had also said that he would run if Ventura did not.

As governor, Ventura had high approval ratings until his final year in office, when they plummeted. He did not seek re-election in 2002, instead handing his Independent Party over to ex-Rep. Tim Penny, who finished third to Republican Tim Pawlenty.

Polls have showed Ventura already collecting nearly a quarter of the vote, taking almost as much support from Coleman as he does from Franken. Too, beating Coleman is nothing new to The Body: Coleman was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1998 when Ventura came out on top, after starting in the single digits.

Ventura's entry into the race would seriously hurt Franken's efforts to win the seat back for Democrats. By splitting the anti-Coleman vote, Ventura could help re-elect the Republican. Franken has already had a terrible few months politically, with revelations about a Playboy article he'd written in 2000, back taxes due in 17 states and late filings from his political action committee. The addition of Ventura to the race could end up being the nail in Franken's political coffin.

Then again, Ventura's vitriol could be directed solely at Coleman, and should he spend all his time berating the incumbent, Franken may find new life as the one candidate not wholly despised by the electorate. Coleman has been hit by local Democrats lately for paying only nominal rent on a room in a Washington townhouse owned by a wealthy businessman and friend.

Regardless of whether Ventura is serious, and of which other candidates are helped or hurt by the move, a Ventura candidacy would certainly make more interesting a contest that has so far been one of the most bitter and angry, and the most expensive, in the country. One thing is for sure: In a race in which none of the three candidates like each other, there will be no such thing as "Minnesota nice."

Update: Ventura tells the Associated Press that he has not made up his mind, shooting down reports that he will definitely run. The former governor maintained he will make a decision by next Tuesday, the filing deadline.