Lob it over the plate, Lenn.

Byline: The Register-Guard

For Portland's come-from-behind bid to win the Montreal Expos, it's the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded, two out and state Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, firing bullets on the mound.

Given the surprising ability of baseball supporters to keep their proposal alive - and Hannon's ability to throw legislative heat - anything could happen when the Oregon Senate takes up the bill as early as today. Our hope is that baseball backers clobber the first pitch out of the park and that lawmakers approve the stadium bill, ending this grimmer-than-grim session on an upbeat - yes, even a fun - note.

Hannon, second in command in the Senate, is a savvy veteran player whose abilities should not be underestimated. He beaned a stadium financing bill in 2001 and has vowed to do the same in the current session. He's mightily peeved by last week's sausage-inspired maneuver, which "gutted" a bill that the Senate already had passed and "stuffed" it with the baseball language.

Resilient baseball advocates, however, have shown surprising mastery of the political game. Frustrated by Hannon's refusal to allow the full Senate to vote on a baseball bill, they seized on the gut-and-stuff ploy to bypass Hannon and get the bill to the Senate floor. Now, Portland and Oregon stand on the brink of winning a big-league team, the Montreal Expos, which probably will go to the first qualifying city that offers committed stadium financing.

The freshly stuffed Senate Bill 5 is a sound, safe plan that would not spend even one dollar from the state's recession-depleted budget to build the new stadium needed to land the Expos. The bill, which passed the House last week, would repay nearly half the construction bonds through the income taxes paid by the team's multi-millionaire players and top management; the rest would come from the city of Portland. Oregon taxpayers would not be required to guarantee repayment of the stadium bonds.

The bill would boost the state's wheezing economy, creating an estimated 1,500 stadium construction jobs. A big league club would draw an estimated 365,000 out-of-state visitors to Oregon each year to watch baseball and to put all those "priceless" baseball memories on their charge cards.

Hannon's initial concerns about baseball were understandable, as the Legislature struggled to find funding for public schools and other vital services. Now that lawmakers have reached a breakthrough deal that will enable them to balance the budget and - praise be - adjourn, he should swallow his pride (not his chaw) and lob a soft pitch over the plate - a pitch that could bring major league baseball to Oregon.