Friedline knows that people laugh at his candidates. That’s OK; when he first brought the ponytailed Ventura home, his family laughed, too. Back then, Friedline made his living off a small Minneapolis print shop and ran long-shot campaigns in his spare time. But like a faith healer who finally managed to cure a blind man, Friedline now finds himself in high demand among political outcasts, and he’s making a modest living trying to find the next Ventura. Most of his candidates can’t even afford to pay him, and he usually stays at their homes when he visits. But Friedline is that rare species of political consultant: the true believer. “I don’t need to win,” he says. “Eventually, I want to build a real third party in this country, a real third choice. That’s why I’ve stuck with it as long as I have.”
Friedline knows he isn’t likely to repeat the Minnesota Miracle. It was Ventura’s magnetic personality, more than any secret strategy, that connected with voters. But there’s no denying that Friedline has a talent for getting the message out in unconventional ways. With Ventura, the consultant relied on parades, debates and a Web site that drew more than a million hits. He brought in some $27,000 selling “butt ugly” campaign T shirts at the state fair. In two races last fall, for Memphis mayor and Mississippi governor, his upstart candidates each claimed about 15 percent of the vote. Not bad, considering that one was another former wrestler, and the other ran on a pro-hemp platform.
Friedline isn’t the only strategist to get a national bounce from the Ventura campaign. Dean Barkley, the campaign chairman, was unable to recruit a credible third-party presidential candidate, but he’s been approached by Harvard to do a fellowship. Bill Hillsman, the adman who created the Jesse action figure, has been talking with Ralph Nader’s campaign. Of course, Friedline and the rest of the Minnesota gang would love to be working on a “Ventura for President” campaign–or for John McCain, whom Friedline tried to draft for a third-party bid–but neither scenario seems remotely possible. For now, the Arizona Ranger will just have to do.
