Tectonic Shift - Huge news

Tectonic Shift - Huge news in the Strib - three out of four citizens in or formerly liberal state favor cutting spending to raising taxes, according to the latest Minnesota Poll.

"These results certify what we saw in the election," said House Majority Leader Erik Paulsen, R-Eden Prairie. "Minnesotans are expecting first and foremost that the new administration conduct a top-to-bottom review of state government spending."

Said Dan McElroy, who officially becomes the state's finance commissioner and budget czar Monday: "It's reassuring to see that 76 percent of the respondents know that cutting spending has to be part of the solution."

The guys at Powerline are, as usual, right on point:

Pawlenty's victory illustrates the principle that the messenger is as important as the message. Pawlenty is a tremendously talented politician, who at age 41 may have a future on the national stage. He is such a palpably nice guy that even the staunchly Democratic Star Tribune, in an editorial this morning, calls him a "leader of obvious intelligence and decency" whose ten years in the legislature "have shown him to be a person of substance and genuine commitment to public service." (Of course, they're trying to soften him up for their plea to raise taxes.)

As someone who's lived in Minnesota for a little over 17 years, it amazes me - the "conventional wisdom" of this state ("suck it up and pay") is falling by the wayside, finally.

(Via Powerline and Fraters Libertas, who as usual are right on the money...)

Posted by Mitch at January 5, 2003 10:03 PM