After a legislative session when lawmakers used up nearly all the state's budget reserves and used accounting shifts to patch up a $1.95 billion budget deficit, Minnesota has set itself up for some of the toughest decisions in a long time next year.

By largely refusing to adjust taxes or spending, lawmakers likely hoped to give themselves something to talk up in an election year: They can claim they fixed the budget without raising taxes or cutting much spending. But instead of talking about what they did last year -- which in the end amounts to very little -- the public would be wise to instead focus the debate on what a candidate plans to do about what will almost surely be another large budget deficit.

Lawmakers have basically used duct tape and staples to patch a gaping hole in the side of a sinking ship.

It may hold for now, but you can bet that water will start seeping through soon. And with few reserves left, the state is all out of duct tape.

If the economy doesn’t improve, lawmakers could have a deficit as large as $2.5 billion awaiting them when they return to the Capitol in January. Even if the economy heals some, it’s safe to expect at least $1 billion -- and that’s according to one of the architects of this year’s budget bill, Sen. Doug Johnson.

Legislators hoped to make their perceived fiscal shrewdness an issue in this year’s campaign. Instead, the issue should be what they plan to do about that hole in the side of the ship.