Esme's Blog: Mpls. Mayor's Race The Wackiest In MN History?

Minnesota, of course, has had some pretty wacky elections.

Topping them all, most would say, was the 1998 Governor's race, where former pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura used some unconventional campaign commercials to help him ride to victory.

There was, of course, Minnesota's 2008 Senate race that made Florida's hanging chads look like a bastion of electoral efficiency.

But what about the current Minneapolis Mayor's race?

Encouraged by a $20 filing fee, 35 candidates are running.

It's a race that, because of ranked choice voting, may be decided by who gets the most second-, or even third-place votes. The ballot will have 105 options, (35 candidates with 3 options each for being ranked first, second or third).

There are the fundraising frontrunners, former Hennepinn Co. Commissioner Mark Andrew and City Council Member Betsy Hodges. And then there are the other candidates, like a guy called Captain Jack Sparrow.

And then there is Jeffrey Alan Wagner whose campaign commercial of him appearing and then disappearing into a lake dressed in tight black swim trunks has gone viral on YouTube.

In the campaign commercial, Wagner promises as mayor to no longer go to strip clubs and shouts out an obscenity to "wake the (bleep) up".

An ABC News blogger said the commercial may be the best political ad of they year. But an unconventional commercial can't possibly lead to a win could it?

Just ask Jesse Ventura.