By Jon Jeter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 6, 1998; Page A04

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 5—After David Letterman has moved on to other monologues, after the applause has quieted and reality has replaced shock and disbelief, the question remains for Minnesota Gov.-elect Jesse Ventura: What now?

All the chest-thumping, bravado and full nelsons may have prepared the former professional wrestler for the cage match that is politics. His past certainly has helped make him the most celebrated governor in the nation, with a stunning upset victory in Tuesday's gubernatorial race here. But virtually nothing in Ventura's history would seem to prepare him for the task of governing a state.

Can you body-slam a $12 billion-a-year state budget?

"I feel like Rodney Dangerfield," said Ventura, acknowledging that he has much to learn. "It's time to go back to school."

The 47-year-old Ventura was twice elected mayor of a Minneapolis suburb, but administrative duties there were largely handled by a city manager. In the suburb's weak-mayor system, Ventura's vote was just one of seven on the city council.

That hardly compares with the unprecedented task awaiting him now. As the first Reform Party candidate elected governor, Ventura must work with a state Senate controlled by Democrats and a state House with a Republican majority. Not a single lawmaker is from Ventura's party.

How will Ventura build consensus with legislators from different parties who owe him virtually nothing and have little to lose politically by staring him down?

"The fun is over," said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. "Now Jesse has got to lead, and as the first Reform Party candidate ever elected governor there is absolutely no script for him to follow."

Ventura's tax-cutting proposals may make him a natural ally of Republican lawmakers, say pundits and party officials here. But Ventura's views on social issues are more liberal, and the maverick politician is anything but predictable.

"Jesse is really in a tough position," said Tony Sutton, executive director of the state GOP. "We really don't know what to expect."

While Ventura won the three-way race for governor, outdistancing St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman (R) and Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III, he received only 37 percent of the vote.

"That's not exactly a mandate from the voters," said Sutton. "Sixty-three percent of the electorate voted against him. That sends a signal to the legislators that you're not invincible. They don't have to play ball."

Sutton and others here believe one of two scenarios will play out. With Republicans gaining momentum in a state once monopolized by Democrats, either party could bend over backward to work with Ventura and, by taking the legislative lead, undermine the rival party's efforts in 2002.

Or the opposite could occur. Without support from major parties, it is far from certain that Ventura could even keep lawmakers from overriding a veto. Consequently, both parties could circumvent the governor, pursuing their own agendas and legislation without worry of interference from the state's CEO.

Largely dismissive of government and politicians throughout his campaign, Ventura must now assemble a bureaucracy of nearly 100 managers within a few months. He has asked some of departing GOP Gov. Arne Carlson's staff to stay on during the transition. Despite Ventura's success, the Reform Party in Minnesota is a bare-bones operation and many here suspect that Ventura may keep many of Carlson's appointees permanently.

"The Reform Party of Minnesota could meet in a phone booth," Schier said.

The two most prominent members of Ventura's inner circle, in fact, have no experience in state government. His campaign manager, Dean Barkley, is an attorney and twice-failed candidate for the U.S. Senate; his spokesman, Doug Friedline, runs a pull-tab gambling operation for a Minneapolis bar.

Ventura dismisses any notion that his entourage is not ready for prime time, however. His team, he notes, already surpassed everyone's expectations by beating two established career politicians.

"We're kind of the blind leading the blind," Ventura told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. "But we managed to find the cheese."

Ventura met with Carlson at the state Capitol Wednesday and the outgoing governor handed him advice and manuals on assembling a transition team. Ventura said the budget is his first priority.

That was the centerpiece of Ventura's campaign, during which he said he would return to taxpayers the state's nearly $4 billion surplus accumulated in recent years. But on Wednesday, he worked to amend that pronouncement, noting that money had already been dedicated to other uses by the legislature and Carlson. Instead, he explained he would use any future budget surpluses for tax relief.

Ventura has contacted former Colorado governor Richard Lamm, a Reform Party candidate for president two years ago, about overseeing his transition efforts. No agreement was announced, but Lamm recommended that Ventura attend a training session for new governors held by the National Governors' Association.

Already, Ventura the governor-elect seemed slightly less daring than Ventura the long-shot gubernatorial candidate.

"I simply will say that I will do the best job I am capable of doing," Ventura said. "I'm not a rebel. I'm not coming on board to create some sort of rebellion."