They both were faced with uphill battles.

Neither was given much chance of overcoming the odds.

They also both remained supremely confident that somehow, in some way, they'd still prove victorious.

One did, becoming the Governor of Minnesota.

The other lost, returning "home" to serve as presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature.

So what can Bruce Blakeman learn from Jesse "the Body" Ventura?

The simple truth is that in order to succeed in politics today you need more than a face, a name, and anointment by a perceived power broker.

In Minnesota, Ventura, the former Navy SEAL, pro wrestler and broadcaster, ran as a member of a cash-poor party in his state -- the Reform Party -- and against candidates -- including the son of the late Hubert Humphrey -- who were far more experienced in the ways of politics than he.

Financing his campaign mainly through bank loans, something that's legal in Minnesota, Ventura espoused a simple message, portraying himself, despite his former careers, as a common man who would run his state with common sense.

The polls, even almost right up to the end, had him losing by nearly 20 percentage points. And yet reporters across Minnesota now concede that they were blinded by the polls, and dismissed what all of their senses were telling them.

Everywhere he went, Ventura was drawing crowds, exciting the same kind of youthful voters that John F. Kennedy did in the 1960 presidential election.

Yes, his celebrity did play a part -- at the Minnesota State Fair, his booth was mobbed by autograph seekers, while those of other candidates went begging for visitors -- but more than anything else, Ventura touched a populist chord.

His basic message, "I love this state, and I want to see it prosper."

Now, any candidate will tell you that about their respective environs, but in Ventura's case, the messages rang true.

Here in New York, Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for state comptroller, faced a challenge similar to Ventura's, his political Everest being one H. Carl McCall, one of the most popular political and governmental figures in New York State history.

In fact, when all the votes were counted, McCall this year received more votes than even Governor George Pataki.

But if there was a passing similarity in where they were coming from, Blakeman's story diverged from that of Ventura in a number of key ways.

To begin with, of course, he was a major party candidate and presumably well-financed.

He was selected to be the candidate by Senator Alfonse D'Amato, who until his own defeat at the polls, was the most powerful Republican in the state.

After D'Amato's defeat, one local Republican predicted stormy days ahead for Blakeman simply because "his Rabbi" -- D'Amato -- is now out of the picture.

Though he has his critics, Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph N. Mondello has always ultimately picked candidates who would do the right thing governmentally for their constituents.

Mondello truly does have strong populist beliefs at heart and he recognizes that, in according themselves with substance, his candidate's success reflects well on the party.

One of Senator D'Amato's failings as a local political titan was that he always promoted candidates that were little more than a reflection of himself.

"There, by the grace of Al, go I."

Bruce Blakeman thought that would be enough to see him through.

Unlike Ventura, who took his measure of celebrity and used it to talk to his constituency about issues that truly matter to them, Blakeman took issues that focus groups told him were all-important -- breast cancer, for instance -- and spoke about them dispassionately.

In the end, the lesson is as simple as it is profound. In his race in Minnesota, Ventura spoke to the people of their concerns, as if he really knew them. He believed they, frankly, were his neighbors, and the electorate responded.

Throughout his own race, Blakeman never found a way to touch people in that way. Sadly, it appears he never even tried to find a way to.

Now all he's left with is the post he holds in Nassau, and the prospect of a difficult re-election bid next year that will be tantamount, if he is successful, to surviving a steel-cage match against the Governor-elect of Minnesota.

The biggest lesson of election 1998 is this, it's populism, not money nor polls, that really matters in politics. It's people, after all -- emotional, thinking, feeling, unpredictable people, who ultimately pull the lever in the voting booth.

Daniel J. McCue