Three-way, anyone? Independence party vet Dean Barkley mulls US Senate run

Last month Jesse Ventura floated the idea of joining the race to unseat incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman in an interview with the Associated Press. The gambit seemed more like an attempt by the former Gov. to pimp his latest book than an actual testing of the electoral waters.

But if Ventura ultimately sits out the race, political consultant and former senator Dean Barkley is seriously considering a run. The Independence Party member was appointed by Ventura to briefly serve as the state’s junior senator in 2002 following the death of Paul Wellstone.

Barkley is simply waiting to hear the plans of the man who tapped him for that plum post. “I think [Ventura]‘s thinking about it,” says Barkley, reached by phone this afternoon. “I talked to him a few weeks ago. He’s more upset with the political system than ever, as I am. He’s not happy with the choice of [Al] Franken and Coleman, and I’m not either.”

Barkley’s chances of actually winning the seat would seem remote. He’s made three previous runs for the US Senate, garnering from 5 to 16 percent of the vote. But he could certainly alter the electoral dynamics of a Coleman-Franken scrap.

Barkley argues that, with public support for Congress at anemic levels, the landscape is ripe for a third-party candidate. “I think the opportunity is there if someone has the fortitude to try it again,” he says. “I think it’s an opportunity that’s greater than ever for a rational centrist person not tied in to either of the parties.”

While Barkley waits for word from Ventura he’s been advising 3rd Congressional District Independence Party candidate David Dillon, practicing law–and driving a Metro Mobility bus part time. “I had some time on my hands,” says Barkley of the unlikely job.