Half of those who took part in a strictly unscientific poll at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair believe that a combination of spending reductions and revenue increases would be the best plan to solve the state's projected $5 billion state budget deficit.

Activists from TakeAction Minnesota stood outside of the WCCO Radio State Fair booth Friday during Gov. Tim Pawlenty's live radio broadcast, handing out "health insurance rate increases" on a stick in protest of the governor's recent refusal to sign off on federal money to review insurance rates.

The Minnesota State Fair isn't just about livestock and eating fried food on sticks. Fair-goers can be civically engaged, too. Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives will make themselves available to talk policy, issues or the fair's fattest pig.

The nonpartisan Secretary of the Senate's office has assembled this year's batch of questions for its annual State Fair survey. The survey will query State Fair goers on their views on major issues like a Minnesota Vikings stadium, alternative pathways to teacher licensure and the state budget deficit.

None of Minnesota's gubernatorial candidates have staked out their spots yet at the Minnesota State Fair, which begins in slightly more than two months.

Visitors to the 2009 Minnesota State Fair were full of not only Pronto Pups and mini-doughnuts, but also opinions. Like the Minnesota state House, the state Senate offered fairgoers the chance to complete two unscientific opinion polls: one for adults and one for teens.

Those of you who were wondering whether Minnesotans would come to the Great Minnesota Get-Together while mired in a recession need wonder no more: The 2009 state fair, which wrapped up its 12-day run Monday night, was the best-attended state fair of all time.

Visitors to the 2009 Minnesota State Fair, which wrapped up its 12-day run Monday night, made their opinions known in the annual Minnesota House state fair poll.

Al Franken shook countless hands, posed for dozens of pictures and kept a crowd at a cooking demonstration chuckling with his observations at the Minnesota State Fair.

Two 4-H programs at the Minnesota State Fair were canceled after 17 out of 120 participants developed flulike symptoms, and four of them were confirmed to have the H1N1 virus.