The self-proclaimed "most dangerous man in America" made a stop at Penn State last night.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura spoke to a full house at Eisenhower Auditorium as the third speaker in the Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS).

Ventura, who was making his first speech at a university since leaving office earlier this year, began with a statement regarding Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's decision to remain with the team despite outside requests for his retirement.

"JoePa must not go," Ventura said. "He has given his life and career to Penn State, and he should be able to retire on his own terms when he is ready."

Throughout his 45-minute lecture and hour-long question and answer session, Ventura used no notes to help him with his presentation.

A large part of his speech included various attempts to motivate the general public, specifically students, to vote.

"Voter turnout in this country is pathetic," he said. "In any given election, 50 percent of the population does not vote, and students make up a large portion of this group."

Ventura went on to point out that politicians would be more likely to listen to the concerns of younger voters if they voted.

"I think his point of 50 percent of the population not voting motivated a lot of people to think about going out and bringing about change," Jonathan Belman (senior-biochemistry and molecular biology) said.

Belman, a second year DSS committee member, said he was very happy with last night's presentation.

Throughout the evening, questions arose about Ventura's political future.

"I think the White House is scared that I will enter this election," he said. "If I declared to run for president, there would be nobody pulling my strings. What you see is what you get."

Questions also arose about his views on the California recall election and fellow actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"I did not support the recall election at all," he said. "And the comparisons between he and I are ridiculous. I won a planned election."

Many of the students who attended the lecture supported Ventura's "common sense" approach to politics.

"I really liked what he had to say," Laura Benson (sophomore-political science, sociology and African American studies) said. "I liked his views on almost all social issues, but I didn't support the gun control view."

In 1998, Ventura became the first Reform party candidate to win a statewide election. Since then he has been a strong advocate for the abolition of the current two-party system in favor of one that would give numerous parties a chance to participate in government.

"The Democrats and the Republicans are not the solution, they are the problem," he said. "I consider myself the most dangerous man in America because I have beaten both parties twice and now I advocate for third party rights."

Throughout the evening, the audience seemed receptive to Ventura's views and style of presentation.

"I think he did a great job speaking," Benson said. "He incorporated humor with politics which is very hard to do."