Was the public interest served in Minnesota's ten-year political brawl over the Metrodome? This case study tells the story of how a $55 million domed stadium called the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome came to be built in Minneapolis. More importantly, it offers an opportunity to explore the way things work in American the shifting coalitions and uncertain outcomes; the scattered interests and chaotic atmosphere; the differing conceptions of what serves the public interest. This is not an idealized version of how things should work in American politics, but a story of how they do work!