And so the search for the first Truther senator continues.

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has announced that he will be staying out of the race to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. Before making clear his intentions not to run, the media buzz he created demonstrated the kind of impact he would have had on the race.

Ventura made the announcement before a national audience Monday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” The unpredictable independent’s flair for generating media attention would have transformed an already expensive and contentious race between GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democrat and former “Saturday Night Live” personality Al Franken into a free-for-all.

I can only assume he thinks he can’t win; there’s no other reason he’d decline three months of free media coverage for his special blend of lectures about what’s wrong with America interspersed with engineering fun facts about WTC 7. All hope isn’t lost yet, though: Patrick Ishmael’s been e-mailing with updates during Larry King and says even now the Body’s hinting that he might change his mind before tomorrow night’s filing deadline. Cross those fingers, because if anyone’s positioned to peel away a few soft-headed doves and Paulnuts from Stuart Smalley, it’s this tool.