Our suggestion, in our recent “Six Scenarios” editorial, that Mayor Bloomberg and the former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, might be singing from the same political playbook elicited some skepticism from some of our friends in the national press corps. The idea was mocked on one television network on which we participated in a panel discussion. Yet on our return to the office from that very broadcast we saw Mr. Bloomberg’s state of the city address, in which the mayor said, “In the months ahead, we will also challenge the private sector to speed up DNA fingerprinting so that when DNA is left behind, officers can identify suspects more quickly and avoid wrongful arrests. And to do this, we will establish a six-figure prize for anyone who can invent a device tailored to the NYPD that analyzes DNA right at the crime scene. It’s just one more way we are trying to bring private sector innovation into the public sector.”

It just so happens “Prizes” is the fourth of the nine elements of Mr. Gingrich’s poll-tested “Platform of the American People,” which is available at Mr. Gingrich’s Web site, americansolutions.com. The platform, a kind of Contract with America for 2008 that Mr. Gingrich describes as positions that unify Republicans, Democrats, and independents rather than dividing them, says, “Prizes should be given to companies and individuals that invent creative ways to solve problems.” It suggests “giving large financial prizes to companies and individuals who invent an affordable car that gets 100 miles to the gallon,” an idea it says polls show Americans support by a 77% to 15% margin. It suggests “giving a large financial prize to the first company or individual who invents new ways to successfully cut pollution,” an idea it says pulls 79% in polls. And it suggests “giving a large financial prize to the first company or individual who invents a new, safer way to dispose of nuclear waste products,” an idea it says also draws 79% support.

Maybe Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Gingrich independently arrived at the same idea. It’s not entirely original — Alfred Nobel thought of it, too. And in some cases, it’s redundant. The free market will provide reward enough for someone who can invent an affordable 100-mile-a-gallon car that it’s not clear to us that a government-issued prize is necessary. Toyota and General Motors already spend millions of dollars a year on research and development, and venture capitalists are pouring millions more into Silicon Valley entrepreneurs hoping to come up with the better battery that would be a key to such a car. A crime-scene DNA-analyzer for the NYPD may not be the sort of thing for which there is a similar free-market payoff, so a prize may make more sense. It will be interesting to see if the prize the mayor is offering works to spur the innovation he wants. If it does, maybe Messrs. Bloomberg and Gingrich will take a bow together.