"The Body" Thinking About A Run!

He's already come up with a campaign message: "Elect someone who truly is not controlled by special-interest money. With me, you would get a true check and balance," Ventura said.

One of his first acts would be to try to abolish the income tax in favor of a sales tax, which Ventura says is a better indicator of wealth.

Ventura, 52, shocked the political establishment in 1998 when he used his message of social liberalism and fiscal conservatism — and his sizable personality — to defeat two better-known and better-funded candidates to become the first third-party governor of Minnesota.

But he left office four years later, disillusioned and discouraged after a frustrating final year.

His semester at Harvard — including parties until the wee hours — has renewed his faith in America and his political ambitions, he said.

"The best way I can describe it is rehab," Ventura said. "For someone getting out of office like me, even though I've been out for over a year now, it's equivalent I think to an alcoholic or the drug addict going to the Betty Ford clinic."