.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Now we know for sure what a “resounding defeat” looks like. In the end, Central Iowa voters showed less enthusiasm for the “Yes to Destiny” proposal than for humidity or mosquitoes.

The measure’s backers apparently hoped their core supporters and nobody else would go to the polls last week. Instead, the turnout was surprisingly high. The “no” group didn’t spend much money, but like-minded folks were easy to come by.

It didn’t help the Project Destiny group when they put out a deceptive flier. It didn’t help when people kept recalling the local-option tax for schools that was spent in unexpected ways. The specter of CIETC didn’t do the cause any good, either.

But let’s not ignore the mysterious aspects of the proposal itself. If the average Joe was going to save as much in property tax reduction as he spent on higher sales taxes, where was the windfall supposed to come from? To the average citizen, it sounded like wishful thinking, not a solid economic plan.

Successful business leaders saw the cultural benefits and wondered how anyone could resist. But as presidential candidate John Edwards likes to point out, there are two Americas. Putting culture to a vote means that you hear from lots and lots of people who aren’t wealthy and don’t spend much time thinking about live theater and the symphony, or even a trails network.

Those citizens are more concerned with keeping as much of their income as they can, and they’re not inclined to shrug it off when they see government squandering their taxes. Down through the years, they’ve seen plenty of examples of that.

In their eyes, “Yes to Destiny” looked too much like big companies getting a property tax break and proceeding with lofty projects that have limited appeal to the masses.

First regional government fell flat, then this concept hit a brick wall. Can the leaders of these big-picture efforts retain their clout? Or is it time to turn to people with fresh ideas and better ways to present them?