It's official. Jesse ("The Body") Ventura has been sworn in and is now Governor Ventura of Minnesota. The man who was once a bodyguard to the Rolling Stones now has his own.
Already the former professional wrestler, radio jock and horse farmer is a changed man. He had promised to arrive at his inauguration this week by helicopter and abseil down from the Capitol dome before taking the oath of office. Instead he came by official car wearing a dark double-breasted suit - a big change from the feather boa and black tights of his wrestling days.
But the several thousand people who turned up in subzero temperatures at the Capitol in St Paul did not seem to mind. One of his guests was his old friend Arnold Schwarzenegger. They starred together in Predator and The Running Man.
One of Ventura's rules as governor will be no appointments before 9 a.m. When his staff asked why, he said: "Arnold was very worried about me. Arnold told me I really have to get back to working out, so that's what I'm going to do every morning."
Tickets have been sold out long ago for a huge party later this month - The People's Ball - when 14,000 supporters will crowd into Minnesota's basketball arena. What should they wear?
Terry Ventura, the governor's wife of 23 years, says "Tux, tennis shoes, biker leather, whatever you feel comfortable wearing."
The biker leather recalls the early days of their marriage when they spent a while "on the road". They met when she was a 19-year-old receptionist and went one night to the Rusty Nail bar and fell for the bouncer, James George Janos.
He only became Jesse Ventura when he took up pro-wrestling and needed a new name. This was after six years in the navy as a member of an elite SEAL unit, where he specialised in underwater demolition. Ventura served in Vietnam but refuses to disclose what he did.
The wrestling ended in 1984 when he was about to enter the ring with his old rival, Hulk Hogan, and was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. Hogan, who is still going strong, is now threatening to run for president following Ventura's political success. Of Ventura as a wrestler, Hogan is scornful.
"Jesse's greatest move was to choke people, poke them in the eyes and then run for his life," Hogan says. Ventura accuses Hogan of stealing his moves.
But all that is behind Gov Ventura now as he faces into running the affairs of a state of 4.3 million people with a budget of $12 billion. How did he get to the governor's mansion of a state rich in political history which produced Senator Eugene McCarthy and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey?
Ventura, who is 46, defeated Humphrey's grandson in the election last November. The ex-wrestler's campaign, with the odd slogan "Retaliate in '98", caught fire with the electorate, especially young people who would not otherwise bother voting. There was a record 61 per cent turnout - the biggest in the country - and Ventura won 37 per cent to wallop his Democratic and Republican opponents.
They had ignored Ventura during the campaign and election debates, assuming he was a "joke" candidate. But Ventura, 6 feet 4 inches and with shaven head, stormed through Minnesota and made his opponents in suits look boring.
As Minnesota's favourite writer, Garrison Keillor, put it: "He was the protest candidate, a chance to throw toilet paper in the trees and piss off Dad. Nobody dreaming he would actually be elected."
Ventura came up with an interesting campaign angle. Why not return the $1.5 billion state surplus to the taxpayers? That went down well, and Ross Perot's tax-cutting Reform Party adopted Ventura. Another idea was to legalise prostitution.
Students found him "cool" and drop-outs rushed to register as voters. Ventura's TV ads with music from Shaft showed children playing with a Jesse Ventura action man who battles with Evil Special Interest Man.
When interviewers tried to ridicule his background, Ventura growled: "I know wrestlers who pay more in taxes than most people make. How can they be dumb? Wrestling is ballet with violence. They don't call Nureyev dumb."
When he swept to victory carrying every age group under 60 and every income level under $100,000, Minnesota (the state of "repressed Swedes", according to Keillor) was big news. A reader wrote in to the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Well, finally we have a governor who knows how to execute a flying head scissors."
In an editorial, the newspaper urged the dazed citiizens to remain calm and the local politicians to try and co-operate with their new governor. As for him, the editorial commented: "The scorn for government he voiced during the campaign was one part ideology, one part showmanship and several parts ignorance. He can't get away with the ignorance any longer."
He is learning fast. Remember that promise to give back the $1.5 billion surplus? On inauguration day the Taxpayers' League held a rally to remind him but Mr Ventura now says that he will give back only $1 billion and keep the rest for "health initiatives".
"Is Jesse Ventura up to governing? Can he do the job?" he asked rhetorically at his inaugural. When the going gets tough, he will look back to his navy SEAL training and know that being governor "is not as tough as that".
He ended with the navy yell, "Hooya!!!". Now you know what to say when you meet the Governor.