DFL leaders to Pawlenty: You go first on Vikes stadium

DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller said tonight that the stadium issue won't get done if Gov. Pawlenty doesn't take the lead on the issue.

During a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce dinner, Kelliher, Pogemiller, GOP House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers and GOP Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem were asked by KSTP's Tom Hauser: "Will the Legislature take up this issue without the governor first putting a plan on the table."

Here are the responses:

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Kelliher: "I think it's impossible to do this issue without having leadership from the top, from the governor's office and I have seen a number of these different issues come forward so I think it needs leadership from the top."

Zellers: "It's a possibility, we're not going to close the door, but a check from the state of Minnesota to the Minnesota Vikings isn't going to happen. It has to be creative. We have to balance the budget first. We have to get the economy growing again and then we can talk about stadiums."

Senjem: "We're working on it. There are ideas out there. The lottery is an idea. Racino is out there. There's ideas. We can make this happen. It's going to take good people coming together and putting this package together. There's not one of us who wants to see the Vikings go. We just have to do it and we will."

Pogemiller: "If the governor leads and he proposes he will find a partner in me in the state Senate. It's a difficult issue because it's simply not as important as education and health care but we can perhaps multi-task if the governor will lead on it."