The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports this morning that Jesse Ventura “met with advisers on Friday to map out what a quick leap into Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race might look like, although advisers say he still has not made a final decision. That will be revealed on national television Monday night.” Former senator Dean Barkley, a top Ventura confidante, said, “He’s playing this one pretty tight. He’s going through all the mechanics of it, but I have no idea what he’s going to decide.” Ventura “met with Barkley, ad guru Bill Hillsman and former Independence Party chairman Jim Moore on Friday morning for about a half hour at the offices for Hillsman’s North Woods Advertising. ‘We talked about the nuts and bolts of doing the race,’ Barkley said, including how long it would take to launch a website. Never a fan of fundraising, Ventura likely would do most of his through the Web, Barkley said, contenting himself with raising $1 million or $2 million.” The AP reports incumbent Republican Norm Coleman saif he will “start thinking about facing another opponent in the race only if Ventura registers before the Tuesday deadline.” Al Franken is the Democratic candidate.

In an interview with Newsweek on Friday morning, Ventura said, “I will soul search and decide, probably on Monday morning. … I think they’re beatable. I’m getting all these Minnesotans coming up to me every day telling me to run. It’s out there again, the groundswell. People want someone to go out there to shake up Washington. I keep saying to myself, if not me, then who? … I have a standard rule that I will not spend more than I make. The Senate pays roughly $170,000, so that would mean I would have the ability to go to a million bucks. Coleman and Franken may spend as high as $25 million combined. Imagine how angry they would be if I won again.”