Last winter House Majority Leader Michael Lange told the IR Editorial Board that he was convinced Montana voters would have sent more Republican lawmakers to the state Capitol last fall if people had gotten a better chance to see the governor's budget plans.

Lange, now a candidate for U.S. Senate, seemed certain that Gov. Brian Schweitzer's proposals for spending most of the state's budget surplus on a variety of programs would really turn Montanans off.

That was a sentiment easy to find on the rightward fringes of the GOP, but this week's Lee Poll throws a big wrench into the idea.

According to the poll, it turns out that while people remain unhappy with the way the session was conducted, they like the results just fine. And those results are pretty much what the governor had wanted.

The poll found that 63 percent of Montana voters approved of the Legislature spending nearly three-fourths of the projected $1 billion surplus on public schools, prisons, human services, state colleges and buildings. Just 26 percent said more money should have been returned to taxpayers, while 11 percent were undecided.

It wasn't surprising that 79 percent of Democrats said the money was spent properly, but get this: Among Republicans, 45 percent said the money was properly spent, which beat the 39 percent who said more should have been returned to taxpayers. (Among voters calling themselves independents, 68 percent liked the legislative results.)

Democrats are sure to gleefully spin numbers like that, and you can't blame them, but a little caution is in order. Nothing in politics is permanent, especially the whims of the voters who drive it all. That's why polls are only snapshots, no matter how well they were conducted.

Still, the poll strongly suggests that, at least in this case, an article of faith about Montana voters firmly held by conservatives may have more to do with wishful thinking than reality.