Not sure where exactly he's pulling this out of, but anyway. . .
Outgoing Minnesota governor Tim "I didn't even bother trying to get the Vikings into a new stadium on my watch" Pawlenty spoke today at a gathering of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, at which he said that the approval for a new stadium for the Beloved Purple is "highly likely" to happen in the near future.
"I think it's highly likely, highly likely to get done because it has to."
Of course, he doesn't know how it's going to get done or when it's going to get done, but by golly, it's going to get done, "because it has to." And he is right on that front. . .the Vikings have a year left on their lease with the Metrodome before they could potentially pull up the stakes and move elsewhere. Never mind the fact that the reason we've gotten to the point where the Vikings only have one year left on their lease with the Metrodome is because, between the last two governors of the state. . .and don't think this is based on party affiliation, because yours truly is generally as conservative as they come. . .we've had 12 years of guys in St. Paul sitting around with their thumbs in their rear ends not taking the necessary steps to get the job done. At least a part of that, from my outsider observation, seems to have something to do with Pawlenty being more concerned with positioning himself for a potential run at the Presidency in 2012 than doing something really weird like. . .I don't know. . .his job as governor, maybe.
But there you have it. . .12 years wasn't enough for Jesse Ventura or Tim Pawlenty to get the Vikings into a new stadium, but Timmah is super duper ultra sure that the next guy will get the whole thing sorted out in less than a year or so. Genius.
Sometime in the next couple of days, we'll likely take a look at the candidates for governor and see where they stand on a potential Vikings stadium. Now, I'm not saying we'll go so far as to endorse anyone or anything like that. . ."even with the veritable avalanche of votes we could potentially bring to a candidate," he said sarcastically. . .but if this issue is important to you, it's important to me, and I'd like to make sure that you folks know where everyone stands on the issue.
And, please, let's try to keep any comments associated with this limited to stadium issues and/or the Minnesota governor's race. No Obama, no Bush, no Biden, no McCain, no Palin, no Hillary. . .none of that junk. Keep it civil.