MINNEAPOLIS —  Dean Barkley _ lawyer, political kingmaker, and bus driver _ has spent 62 days in the U.S. Senate, which he calls "the most prestigious club on earth."

Now he wants back in.

As a perennial third-party candidate with three election losses under his belt, Barkley managed Jesse Ventura's triumphant outsider bid for governor in 1998. The former wrestler repaid him with a prominent role in his administration, then appointed him in 2002 to fill out the final days of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone's term.

This week, Ventura flirted with running for Senate from Minnesota, against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and likely Democratic candidate Al Franken, famous for his books, radio show, and years on "Saturday Night Live."

When Ventura decided not to run, Barkley decided he would.

Barkley is by far the best-known of seven people running in September's primary to be the candidate of the Independence Party _ which, thanks in part to Ventura, still enjoys major-party status in Minnesota.

But he knows the general election would be tough. Larry Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota, said it would be hard for a third-party candidate to draw votes in a race with two high-profile candidates "if you're not Jesse Ventura."

"I'm not Jesse Ventura," Barkley has said in recent days.

Though the two share nearly identical political views of fiscal conservatism, social liberalism, disdain for the two-party system and opposition to the Iraq war, Barkley and Ventura temperamentally couldn't be more different. Where Ventura is brash and high-strung, Barkley is laid-back.

The 57-year-old grew up in the central Minnesota town of Annandale, an hour northwest of Minneapolis. He worked at his parents' furniture store and played high school football, then went to the University of Minnesota, where he later earned a law degree.

Barkley volunteered for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign because of his opposition to the Vietnam War, but in 1980 gravitated to the independent presidential campaign of John Anderson. When Anderson lost, "I just played rugby and drank a lot," Barkley said.

In 1992, Ross Perot's presidential campaign inspired Barkley to run for office himself. He drew 17 percent in a three-way congressional race, and went on to finish third in U.S. Senate races in 1994 and 1996.

In a summer parade in Annandale during the '96 race, Barkley first saw the statewide potential of Ventura, who had already served as mayor of a large suburb of Minneapolis.

"He agreed to walk in the parade with me," Barkley recalled. "I discovered about a third of the way through that even though it was my hometown, everyone was cheering for him. I turned to Jesse and said, 'The wrong guy's running.'"

About six years later, Ventura was finishing his turbulent single term as governor _ he did not run for a second _ and Barkley had a desk in the back row of the U.S. Senate, next to Ted Kennedy and behind Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Despite his short tenure, Barkley said he was able to accomplish his three goals: passage of a law creating the Department of Homeland Security, the creation of a permanent memorial to Wellstone, and continuation of a waiver that gave the state of Minnesota more flexibility in spending federal welfare dollars.

After Barkley left the Senate, he said he tried to land a job with a prestigious law firm and failed _ "I guess I'm not a fit-in type of guy," he said. He worked for a time as a contract lobbyist in St. Paul, where he represented casino interests, a tobacco firm and a group trying to privatize prisons.

In 2006, Barkley was campaign manager for Kinky Friedman, the musician and mystery novelist who mounted an unsuccessful independent bid for governor of Texas. During that period, Barkley's marriage of 23 years broke up.

In 2007, when he was back in Minnesota, several Websites revealed details of a personal ad he posted on Match.com. "Former Senator looking for love," read one of the items.

"I don't want to be a monk the rest of my life," Barkley said. "If people don't want to vote for me because I'm on a computer dating service, fine. Don't."

By early this year, Barkley was again working part-time as a lawyer and driving a bus for the elderly and disabled. He was briefly promoted to chief operating officer of the bus company, but said he and his employers agreed he wasn't a good fit.

"I'm not rich. I don't have a trust fund to support me," said Barkley, adding he currently has no health insurance and would probably qualify for unemployment benefits.

"If I lose this," Barkley said, "maybe I'll go back to being a bus driver."

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