a Vote for Villaraigosa

Longtime readers will know of my affection for both politics and gambling. Well, about a year and a half ago I discovered www.sportsinteraction.com, and over time parlayed a modest $75 investment into a high of approximately $550 before seeing it fall again to about $250... before this most recent bet.

My most significant rolls of the dice didn't always come over the sportswire, however. In fact my NFL picks always seemed most anemic of all. Instead, my most significant wins have involved laying down my entire stake on eclectic events. These included betting on a draw between Kasparov and X3D Fritz in their opening match, on the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to win Best Picture a full 2 months before the movie was even released, on Wesley Clark to win the Oklahoma primary, and on John Kerry to best a certain number of electoral college votes (though I lost the bet on Cooper pulling Nevada into the Democratic column).

All of this is to say that about a month ago, spurred on by this poll at Daily Kos, I put a hefty sum down on Antonio Villaraigosa to win the L.A. Mayoral Race at odds of 1.5 to 1. Seemed like a sure thing at the time (though the poll was the sum total of my knowledge), but now as the race comes down to the wire, the gap is narrowing and turnout is also notoriously low in these types of elections. So - anyone eligible to vote in L.A., I urge you to toss out the incumbent and make history! Nothing like an election.

[one further note of interest: check out www.sportsinteraction.com for yourself under the "Politics" heading. They are still advertising the election date as March 28th, and the odds on Antonio's victory having fallen in my favour to 1.20 to 1. What am I missing? Or are they the ones lost here?]