Know When to Fold ‘Em

Earlier this week we ragged on Mayors Menino and Hickenlooper (…hee) for making lame bets on the outcome of the World Series. We’re all for civic pride, but we want the bets to match the end-of-the-world aura that the Fall Classic takes on. Finally, a politician made a wager that meets our lofty expectations.

Esoteric Republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo made an offer to a fellow Republican (and it wasn’t newly minted Sox fan Rudy Giuliani):

[Tancredo’s] campaign called ABC News to issue this challenge: The Colorado congressman will drop out of the race if the Rockies lose the World Series — if rival Mitt Romney agrees to pack it in if the Red Sox lose.

It is so on. Surely Mitt took the bet. The score was 13-1. They’re gonna win it all, governor!

. . . [Romney] spokesman Kevin Madden issued a terse statement this morning: “The governor is in the race to win the race.”

Damn. That would have been an interesting footnote in American history textbooks if things hadn’t gone Romney’s way. It seems we’ll have to accept the lobster and donut bets after all.