The race for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat may get really interesting tonight!

Already in the race we have incumbent Norm Coleman – Republican, and comedian/political commentator Al Franken – Democrat. Fraken is already trying to prove to voters that he’s a funny guy on the side, but he’s serious about being Minnesota’s next Senator. Currently, Franken-D is polling about 10 points behind Coleman-R. It usually pretty tough to overcome 10 point deficits (especially when you’re running against an incumbent).

Now Minnesota has elected stranger characters to public office before. In 1998 Minnesota elected former wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura as Governor. He served only one four year term – but managed to cause a lot of controversy while he was in office!

Tonight, things will get interesting. Ventura plans to announce whether he’ll run for Senate (as an independent) or not on Larry King Live. No one goes on a major talk show to announce they’re NOT running for office. He’ll announce tonight.

So we’ll have a former wrestler, a former comedian, and a politician.

Unfortunately for Al Franken, this is a death blow for his chances for election.

Fortunately for us non-Minnesotans, this will provide interesting political fodder!

Update: Jesse Ventura didn’t announce on Larry King. Those professional wrestlers sure are sneaky! Looks like the race won’t be quite as interesting as I thought.

Update: Rasmussen’s July 14th poll has Franken leading Coleman 44% to 42%