They built The Bob already. Deal with it.

The Omaha World-Herald, as it sheds employees and cuts back its circulation area, actually paid a pollster to see whether Omahans think the footbridge across the Missouri River is oh, so good or oh, sooey much budgetary lard.

I AM NOT making this up. And neither, unfortunately, are they:

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, financed mainly with a $19 million federal earmark, has been controversial from it inception. Now it is a popular gathering point for families, bikers, runners and tourists.

But what do Omahans really think about the bridge linking Omaha and Council Bluffs?

See the results of The World-Herald Poll in Monday's newspaper. And watch for other poll results on the important issues facing Omaha in The World-Herald all this week.

TO BE FAIR, the pollster also was checking on important things, like the upcoming mayoral election. But you have to figure adding such stupidity to the poll effort didn't exactly make it any cheaper to conduct.

And what if Omahans don't like "The Bob"? What are we gonna do? Spend a few million more to tear it down?

File this poll under "Don't know. Don't care." And if you're the World-Herald, save the money it cost for this bit of pointless polling and buy an extra case of pencils or something.