Now, in addition to frogman, professional wrestler, politician, sports announcer, and guy with an outrageously annoying Minnesota accent, the current governor of the Gopher State - or whatever its damn nickname is - Jesse Ventura is negotiating to be a talk show host:

Jesse Ventura is in talks with MSNBC about hosting his own political chatfest after he leaves office in January.

Details about the proposed show are sketchy, but if it follows the pattern of most news network gabbers, Ventura would likely host a five-night-a-week program in primetime. It's possible MSNBC could slot Ventura's show in the hour now occupied by Phil Donahue's struggling gabber.

Ventura's status as a political independent would seem to be a perfect fit with MSNBC's on-air mantra that it offers a "fiercely independent" point of view in the sea of TV news programming. The governor also has a national following, both from his days as a pro wrestler and as a larger-than-life political figure.

Despite a steady stream of on-air makeovers, MSNBC — a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft — remains mired in third place by most ratings measurements, well behind cable news leader Fox News Channel and second-place CNN. The network has pumped millions into on-air promotion, so far yielding only modest results.