Python+Tornado vs Scala+Lift?
Scala is a substantially cleaner language and enables you to use object-oriented and functional paradigms as you see fit.
Python has much more syntactic sugar and embraces the "there is only one way to do it" philosophy.
Scala is usually used with IDEs like Eclipse/Idea - although support for vim/emacs also exists, too - and built with SBT. If you are not accustomed to these tools, it might take some effort to set them up the first time.
Python is often used with much more lightweight editors. Re-running an updated Python script is easier by default.
Lift is really targeted at web applications, enabling Desktop-like responsiveness and behavior. If you're just wanting to create a homepage, there are certainly other frameworks around, which don't make you learn as much as with Lift.
I'm looking to start a Google Maps based web application. 
My initial thoughts are that in the first phase the focus should be on the front-end, and the backend should be easy to write and to prototype, and should aid as much as possible the development of the frontend.
There will be no 'classic' pages, just a meebo.com style interface. javascript + jquery. (meaning, very few if none at all static pages).
My eye has caught the comet-style , server push paradigm, and I'm really interested in doing some proof of concepts with this.
Do you have any recommendations or advantages and disadvantages or any experiences in working with :
Python + Tornado vs Scala + Lift ?
What other advantages or disadvantages in other areas of a web application might a choice bring?
Note : This is for max 2 developers, not a big distributed and changing team.
Thanks