State Fair poll

I knew there was something I was supposed to be blogging about yesterday, and I was reminded by this story in the Strib about the State Fair politics poll. Go to the article to see what this (unrepresentative) cross-section of Minnesota thinks, but the highlight in my opinion is the special session numbers: the vast majority of people don't want a special session for discussing things like stadiums.

Which isn't too surprising, and from the sounds of things legislative leaders are backing off on the need for one. Given the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, it seems to be a bit crass to be talking about giving millions of dollars to Carl Pohlad to build a stadium, which almost certainly would not be used to house refugees from a hurricane like the Superdome and Astrodome, thus taking away the possibility of arguing that there is some public benefit for the giveaway.

But the cigarette tax and a proposed gas tax did get support, meaning that the governor is batting .500 on these issues (and the legislature is a perfect two for two, only to be stymied by Pawlenty). Again, this is an unscientific poll, but it does bear thinking about .