Campaign Gems

There was plenty of talk about serious issues in the days leading up to Tuesday's primary election. But in the "offbeat" category, there were a couple of gems you might have missed.

Candidate Ole Savior had an interesting proposal for balancing a state budget that's gone kittywampus: Make a year-round theme park out of the state fairgrounds. "California has Disneyland and Florida has Disneyworld, and they have been looking at the Midwest area to complete a triangle that could easily be used year-round, AKA "Winterland" with all season activities," he wrote on his website. "The Minnesota State Fair already has the infrastructure for year round usage so why not keep it open all year?" Sign me up to ride the ferris wheel when the wind chill is 40 below.

While most candidates touted plans to create more jobs by investing in renewable energy (20,000 have already been created in Minnesota), Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer had a different idea. He says we need to invest more to "develop fossil fuel technology." I can understand why, given the lack of research and development in this area over the past 150 years. Personally, I can envision a futuristic world where gasoline will be used to power a wide array of new products, from machines that help cut our grass to vehicles with wheels that we all use to go places. .

What "offbeat" ideas did I miss? What would you do if you were governor?