By Rochelle Olson
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999; 3:59 a.m. EDT

ST. PAUL, Minn. –– As governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura says he's already had a taste of what it's like being a "prisoner of your own success" – something that has soured him on seeking higher office.

In a wide-ranging interview with Playboy magazine, the Reform Party governor discusses everything from women and wrestling to religion and politics, including why he won't seek the presidency in 2000.

The president "lives in a jail cell," Ventura said. "He's the most powerful man in the free world, but he's not really free, is he?"

However, he said if he did decide to run, he would wait until summer to enter the race.

"I would let Gore and Bush hang each other with all the rope they have, to the point where the public couldn't stand either of them. Their disapproval ratings would skyrocket," he said. "Then you enter the race three months before the election and take the whole thing."

As far as being governor: "It's good to be king. The best thing is that there's no one in this state who can tell me what to do."

And the worst: "You become a slave. I can't go anywhere without guards. You become a prisoner of your own success."

The interview was conducted over three days this summer with contributing editor Lawrence Grobel. It appears in the magazine's November issue, which hits newsstands Monday. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy.

On other topics, the governor called for the regulation of drugs and the creation of "places where the addict can go get it." He also said he had smoked marijuana.

Ventura also blamed organized religion for the unpopularity of legalized prostitution, which he has said should be considered.

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers," he said. "It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

The governor's spokesman, John Wodele, sought to clarify the comments, saying Ventura "was talking about extremists of the religious right who are often intolerant, and the governor cannot stand intolerance."

Ventura also said the Navy's Tailhook scandal was overblown and repeated his belief that President John F. Kennedy's assassination was a conspiracy.

The governor, a former Navy SEAL who spent time in Southeast Asia in the early 1970s, said he couldn't condone the Navy's Tailhook scandal but he understood it. Female officers were groped and fondled by aviators attending parties during a three-day conference at a Las Vegas hotel in 1991.

"These are people who live on the razor's edge and defy death and do things where people die. They're not going to consider grabbing a woman's breast or buttock a major situation," he said. "That's much ado about nothing."

Grobel suggested Tailhook wasn't trivial to the women who were grabbed.

"So? You have to create these people for your own protection," Ventura said.

Regarding Kennedy, Ventura said he believes assassins were hired. Playboy asked who hired them.

"I don't want people to think I'm some sort of erratic nut running the state of Minnesota," he said. "If you truly want to know, I believe we did, the military-industrial complex. I believe Kennedy was going to withdraw us from Vietnam and there were factions that didn't want that."