I am trying to populate a dropdown list from a database mapped with Linq 2 SQL, using ASP.NET MVC 2, and keep getting this error.

I am so confused because I am declaring a variable with the type IEnumerable<SelectListItem> on the second line, but the error makes me think this is not the case. I feel like this should be very simple, but I am struggling. Any help is appreciated.

Here are the interesting bits of my controller:

public ActionResult Create()
    {
        var db = new DB();
        IEnumerable<SelectListItem> basetypes = db.Basetypes.Select(b => new SelectListItem { Value = b.basetype, Text = b.basetype });
        ViewData["basetype"] = basetypes;
        return View();
    }

And here are the interesting bits of my view:

            <div class="editor-label">
            <%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.basetype) %>
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            <%: Html.DropDownList("basetype") %>
            <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.basetype) %>
        </div>

Here is the Post action when submitting the Form

        // POST: /Meals/Create

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Create(Meal meal)
    {
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            try
            {
                // TODO: Add insert logic here
                var db = new DB();
                db.Meals.InsertOnSubmit(meal);
                db.SubmitChanges();
                return RedirectToAction("Index");
            }

            catch
            {
                return View(meal);
            }
        }

        else
        {
            return View(meal);
        }
    }

Thanks.