Fred Thompson, Jesse Ventura and 11 others who went from the small screen to the podium

Did you know that before he hosted his eponymous chair-throwing, fist-flying talk show, Jerry Springer was the mayor of Cincinnati?

Going from politician to TV star may be an unusual path, but the opposite route is actually quite common.

Here are 13 stars who made -- or tried to make -- the leap from primetime to politics.

Trekkies aren't the only group who gather together to celebrate their favorite show: this year in Nashville fans of The Dukes of Hazzard, often described as "The Star Trek of the American South*," will come together along with the entire surviving cast of the popular CBS series which ran from 1979 to 1985.

Ben "Cooter" Jones, who started the event back in 2001 will be in attendance at CMT Dukesfest 2007 along with cast members John Schneider (Bo Duke), Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke), James Best (Rosco P. Coltrane), Sonny Shroyer (Deputy Enos) and Rick Hurst (Deputy Cletus).