St. Paul, Minn. ? A steaming-mad Gov. Jesse Ventura appointed a fellow independent to temporarily fill Sen. Paul Wellstone’s seat Monday, while Walter Mondale went on the offensive against Republican Norm Coleman in the only debate of their compressed Senate campaign.

Ventura’s choice of Dean Barkley, a major figure in Minnesota’s third-party movement, leaves control of the Senate up in the air. The two major parties now have 49 members each, with two independents.

One of those independents, Jim Jeffords of Vermont routinely votes with Democrats. Barkley said he was not sure which way he would lean.

“I can get along with moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans,” he said.

Barkley later noted that Jeffords told him in a call, “Don’t commit to anything.” Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott also called in a bid to court the newest senator.

It is unclear how long Barkley will serve. An attorney general’s opinion said the winner of the Senate election will replace Barkley once the winner is certified in mid-November. But Senate rules suggest Barkley’s term will run into early January, until the new senators arrive.

For Ventura, the timing of his angry announcement was a bit of mischief: It came just as the Coleman-Mondale debate got under way. The governor said he was upset that his Independence Party’s Senate candidate, Jim Moore, was excluded from the televised event. Moore has polled in the low single digits.