The Stakes are "Usually Low and Locally Focused"

The Pittsburgh City Paper has a nice write-up of the history of friendly political wagers in their town. They include a terrific couple of lines that nicely sum up our coverage her at Our Civic Pride.

But no tradition is more routine -- or routinely strange -- than the mayoral wager, when otherwise (presumably) busy officials push aside their to-do piles to lay down some action with their counterparts in other cities.

The stakes are usually low and locally focused: a particularly popular local delicacy, or an easily identifiable regional product. Even losing, then, is a kind of victory -- an advertisement for the city to people who live elsewhere.

We maintain that there's nothing better than these wagers. As the SuperBowl fades into our memories, we'll be looking even further in the past as we try to cover some of the more unique wagers in our country's history. We've found wagers back to the 1930's and we'll bring some of those wagers right to you, including rating them on the Daley scale!

No Pizza for You. Congressman Wager Jersey Shame Over Superbowl.

We get it. Phoenix has no food that they're wiling to wager. What about Pizzeria Bianco? Where's the politician who knows his pizza? For shame, Phoenix. For shame. You have, by most accounts, some of the BEST pizza anywhere west of Chicago and no one ante'd up?

Anyway...we'll move on. One wager that fell through the cracks here at Friendly Political Wager headquarters was the small wager between 2 Congressmen over the Super Bowl. Republican Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona placed a wager with Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania over the big game. The loser would have to wear the other guy's team jersey when the House returned on its first full day in session on Wednesday. That's tomorrow. We'll keep our eyes open for the pictures, but it sounds like Franks is going to go through with it.

Franks accepted his loss Monday, saying he'd be wearing the Steelers jersey –"It's always important to be magnanimous in victory and humbling in defeat."

The humiliation of having to wear a jersey around the Congress is pretty high. I'm sure the Congressman won't be able to get on the floor with the jersey, but there will certainly be some press opportunities back in his office.

Bottomline: We like that these two gentlemen got involved in the big game. No food (on such a big game) means that this wager falls pretty far down on the Daley scale. Not to mention that there is no specified place/time of the jersey wearing. More than the Catholic School Kids, but not by much. 11 Daleys.