It was the strangest political speech and question and answer session I’ve ever attended.
I was covering a United States governor’s visit to Saskatoon, a visit focused on international and Canada/U.S. trade.
But the governor talked often about baldness and wrestling, and all the audience at a business luncheon seemed to want to ask him about was baldness and wrestling.
Of course, the governor was Jesse Ventura of Minnesota, which may explain some of the unorthodox political subjects.
And the audience was a Saskatoon business crowd, which may explain starstruck response to Ventura, who was a World Wrestling Federation professional wrestler and TV wrestling commentator before becoming governor.
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Still it seemed odd, and I felt a little sorry for big Jesse.
Sure, he started with jokes about wrestling and baldness, but soon moved into the real subject of his visit: to promote international trade.
Ventura spoke passionately about the importance of international trade for his state, which does more world trade than many independent nations.
He explained why he recently went to Washington, D.C., to ask that American legislators support China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
I was hoping that since Minnesota does a lot of agricultural trade with Canada I’d be able to get a story.
But international trade was pretty far from the crowd’s mind.
Two people praised him for recent comments he’d made about the death of a Canadian-born wrestler.
Another man asked him if he planned to run for president.
An Edmonton man asked Ventura how his views on gun control compared to those of aging rock star Ted Nugent.
A Regina woman asked if he would give her a hug.
When he consented she raced to the stage to hug the man she thought looked “so much like a teddy bear.”
A local gadfly then debated Ventura about who had more sex drive – bald men or white-haired men.
And with that it was over.
To a standing ovation Ventura strode off with his security goons.
I didn’t have a story. And I wondered if big, bald Jesse felt he had done anything useful for international trade.
