Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, an independent, told CNN’s Larry King Monday night that he will not jump into the headline-grabbing race for Republican Norm Coleman’s Senate seat as a third-party candidate.

Ventura, who has also been an actor, a Navy SEAL and a professional wrestler before becoming a suburban mayor and then one-term Minnesota governor, had hinted in national media interviews that he might enter the race, but said before Tuesday’s filing deadline that he would not enter the fray.

Coleman’s likely challenger from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (the name of the national Democratic Party in Minnesota) is former Saturday Night Live cast member and liberal talk show host Al Franken.

Both men are raising record amounts of money for their race. Coleman raised $2.35 million in the second quarter while Franken raised $2.26 million. Coleman reported $7.2 million in cash on hand compared to Franken’s $4 million, according to the Associated Press.

 Ventura's looming presence threatened to turn the race on its head at a time when Coleman and the Republican Party were considered vulnerable in Minnesota, despite a recent swirl of negative media attention toward Franken.

 Ventura told King that the possible media spotlight on his family was one of the reasons he is staying out. "Nothing is off-limits today in the world of politics. These are some of the dilemmas that I go through: Do I want to put my family on the firing line again?" he said on CNN.

 However, the man known as “The Body” during his wrestling career left his options open. A self-professed opponent of organized religion, Ventura slyly told King that if God asked him before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. filing deadline, he would change his mind and enter the race.

While Ventura, who beat Coleman in the 1998 campaign for governor, said he wouldn't enter the race, his political mentor announced hours later that he will run instead.

Former Sen. Dean Barkley, who was nominated to serve in the U.S. Senate by Ventura after Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002, announced Tuesday that he was filing to run as an Independence Party candidate.

Although Barkley is late to what is fast becoming the country's most expensive Senate race this year, he told the Star Tribune that he thinks Minnesotans are prepared for a third-party candidate, as they were when they elected Reform Party (now Independence Party) candidate Ventura.

"I think the opportunity is there," Barkley told the paper. "Anyone with a brain can see that in Minnesota and nationwide, people are pretty well disgusted with both parties. There's room for a viable independent if you can get your message out."

Steve Frank, a professor of political science at St. Cloud State University and co-author of a book about Ventura’s successful gubernatorial campaign, told the AP that the current political climate may not be right for another Ventura run.

"We're in a much more serious time than when he ran in 1998," Frank told the AP. "I think there'd be some initial infatuation with Jesse, but as we get closer - especially with two decent candidates who are well-financed – I think it would be tougher."

Franken also faces a late primary challenge for the Democratic Party nomination in the race.

Although Franken has been endorsed by the DFL Party, St. Paul attorney Priscilla Lord Faris announced recently that she will challenge Franken in the party primary in September.

"I've been thinking about it for about nine months and wanted to see how the polls were going for Franken," Lord Faris told the Star Tribune. "I've been a supporter; I think he's a great guy, but I don't see much changed in the polls, and my passion is to see that we have a new senator who represents all Minnesotans."

She is the daughter of former U.S. District Judge Miles Lord and is a managing partner of the personal injury law firm Faris & Faris.

-- By Quinn Bowman, Online NewsHour