Okay, so the Minnesota Vikings' stadium bill passed the Minnesota Senate last night. You knew that already. But after I woke up and went through the Twitter feed this morning, I saw something that I think we'll all get a good laugh at.

I hadn't noticed it at first, but one of the "yes" votes from last night's session was that of Senator Sean Nienow, who has been against this bill for a long time. So, if he's against the bill, why did he vote "yes," exactly? Well, according to MPR political reporter Tom Scheck, Nienow was attempting to essentially "run out the clock" on the stadium bill.

You'll recall that, after the vote was taken, Senator Nienow made a motion for reconsideration of the bill, which is something that would have had to take place on Wednesday. A motion for reconsideration is a motion that can only be made by someone that voted on the prevailing side of a measure. (Thank you, Robert's Rules of Order.) So, as Nienow was in the majority, he had the right to call for reconsideration. As the reconsideration would have had to take place the next day, it would have meant a new debate on the bill, complete with more amendments and more of what we got on Tuesday.

And he would have gotten away with it, too. . .if it hadn't been for the meddling Senator who called for an immediate vote on Nienow's motion for reconsideration. (I've since found out that the Senator that called for the immediate reconsideration was Senator Bakk, who happens to be the Senate Minority Leader.) The motion for reconsideration was, obviously, shot down, and the history books will show that Senator Nienow voted for the stadium bill after all.

This is what happens when you attempt to be the smartest guy in the room without actually being the smartest guy in the room.

Now, we know damn well that Nienow isn't going to vote for this thing after it comes out of the conference committee, because no amendments can be added at that point. But, still, it's always fun to laugh at somebody that tried to game the system, isn't it?