Ed — the movie

From what I've read, Friday Night Lights is a pretty good movie.

I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to. My hope is that if it's a success at the box office, then Hollywood may consider adapting another Buzz Bissinger book for the big screen. The movie I really want to see is A Prayer for the City.

Prayer is the story of Ed Rendell's first term as mayor of the great city of Philadelphia. He inherited a city $1.246 billion in debt, with a bond rating so poor it couldn't get a secured credit card from Providian. And he helped to turn it around.

I realize that bond ratings and balanced budgets don't sound whizbang exciting, but the book is a page-turner, and this really is a great American story. Think of it as The West Wing at City Hall — only instead of a saintly fictional president you've got a slightly crazy real-life mayor.

I see James Gandolfini as Rendell. He'd be perfect.

Rendell is now the governor of Pennsylvania. The fiscal situation when he arrived in Harrisburg was almost as bad as the crisis that greeted him in Philadelphia. He's off to a good start there. If Ed Rendell succeeds in the state capital the way he succeeded in America's fifth largest city, then he will have established himself as an unparalleled fixer of grand messes.

In 2008, there will be a job opening that requires just this set of skills. You'd have to be a little bit crazy to want that job, of course, but I think the governor qualifies on that score too.