INNETONKA, Minn. - The unlikely duo of Al Gore and maverick Governor Jesse Ventura basked in each other's limelight yesterday, joshing before the cameras and teaming up to call for $1.5 billion more in special education spending.
''I'm trying to get him to loosen up a little bit and not be so formal,'' Vice President Gore joked about the former professional wrestler turned independent governor.
Ventura, who sports a shaved head, said he planned to advise Gore on hair styles.
Gore and Ventura visited a suburban Minneapolis junior high school, where Gore made a serious proposal: what he said would be the largest increase ever in federal financing for special education.
''It's dear to me because my daughter is a special education kid,'' said Ventura, whose daughter Jade is 16.
Later, at a rollicking news conference, Gore snatched a reporter's ringing telephone and answered, ''Hello, Gore news conference. Can I help you?''
He then passed the call to Ventura and answered a second cell phone. ''We're in a digital era here,'' Gore joked.
Of his friendship with Ventura, Gore said, ''I've learned a lot about the history of professional wrestling.''
Ventura described their alliance as almost entirely personal.
''I don't want anything from him,'' said Ventura. ''I'm from a different party, and I'm not trying to climb the party ladder.''
But both men gain from their burgeoning friendship: Ventura gets onto the national stage with the expected Democratic presidential nominee. Gore gets help loosening up an image often described as wooden, and possibly a boost among independent voters.
Ventura was elected in the Reform Party but has since become an independent. He's shown strength with independent voters, an important force in Midwestern battleground states that hold the key to the election.
