Quick Presidential Quiz Answers

So how'd you do? Here are the answers.

1) Who was the first President to be photographed?

• John Adams
  

2) Who didn't learn to read until he was 17?

• Andrew Johnson
  

3) Who built a swimming pool and a movie theater in the White House?

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  

4) Who was ambidextrous?

• James Garfield
  

5) Who was president for only 32 days?

• William Henry Harrison
  

6) Who ordered the White House's first bathtub?

• Franklin Pierce
  

7) Who had the White House's first telephone?

• Rutherford B. Hayes
  

8) Who held his wedding in the White House?

• Grover Cleveland
  

9) Who let his horse graze on the White House lawn?

• Zachary Taylor
  

10) Who gave his pet mockingbird free rein of the indoor air space?

• Thomas Jefferson
  

Quick Presidential Quiz

This was sent along by a friend. It's a basic quiz. I expect no missed answers. Answers next week. Let's see those answers in the comments, people.

1. Who was the first President to be photographed?
2. Who didn't learn to read until he was 17?
3. Who built a swimming pool and a movie theater in the White House?
4. Who was ambidextrous?
5. Who was president for only 32 days?
6. Who ordered the White House's first bathtub?
7. Who had the White House's first telephone?
8. Who held his wedding in the White House?
9. Who let his horse graze on the White House lawn?
10. Who gave his pet mockingbird free rein of the indoor air space?

Food For Thought

While you prepare for the next set of contests, here's a good article to read and then cry about.

"Ten Things that won't change (no matter who gets elected)"

We, as a people, don't like change. So why is it that every one of the candidates is screaming about change?

No more speed, I'm almost there . . .

I don't really have time for everything that I would like to do. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like to run for president. The commanding egos that it takes to put yourself out there every day and worry about what the other guys are saying about you, afraid you might say something that will wind up on YouTube moments after you utter it.

All that being said, I have woefully neglected The Political Point. I'll try to be better. The delegate count (courtesy of MSNBC News) will stay up there at the top of the column. You should be able to click on it to get full results from the voting that has taken place. Don't forget The Fix over there on the right, which has links to columnists and stories from the Washington Post. Below that is a list of other blogs and political sites that are a little more dedicated to digesting the information and getting it out to you, dear reader.

So by the way of quick recap, here is where things stand since I was here writing last.

• Mitt Romney realized his pockets actually did have bottoms and he "suspended" his campaign. He may have been spotted selling used cars in Waltham, Massachusetts. I, mean, really. Mitt. We've had slick, but you took the cake, and the pie, and the donuts . . .
  
• Mike Huckabee is really a nice guy who likes John McCain but would happily pound him into the ground and step over his broken body if it would get him the nomination. He is really working the double-edged sword, to see if the VP slot comes to him, playing coy.
• John McCain. Excuse me? Waitress? A serving of crow over here for the Brave Astronaut. I left the man for dead and he has arisen Phoenix-like to nearly secure the nomination. Everybody should go and read this again.

As it looks like McCain will be the nominee, the question is raising its head - who will be his veep? This is a very important question for a man who would be 72 on Inauguration Day. There is of course the "Huckabee Speculation," Governor Pawlenty, as mentioned in the article linked above, a friend who is a McCain supporter who has some inside information that Lindsay Graham is being seriously considered. Over on my regular blog, I have started a series of recapping the Presidents of the United States, which will end on Election Day. When you look at the first few presidents, several started out as Secretary of State. Vice President Rice, anyone?

On the Democratic side, John Edwards slunk away with his tail between his legs. His departure left me with the option of voting for Obama, which I did, in yesterday's "Potomac Primary." It was nice to vote in a primary, where things mattered. The general consensus is that Maryland hasn't been competitive since George Wallace visited Laurel, Maryland in 1972.

• Barack Obama is the man to beat. He stands alongside Hillary Clinton, WHO IS UNELECTABLE. Go watch this video and then come back. Go ahead. I'll wait. . . . Isn't that one of the best things you have ever seen? Change is good. Join with me. Get on the Obama train.
• Hillary, Hillary, Hillary. Wrote yourself a $5 million check. Shook up your staff. And what did it get you? Not much, you lost the delegate lead, the momentum, the schedule that favored you. Please, we're begging you. Go back to the Senate. Be Queen of the Senate. Get out of the way of history. Please.

I feel like I'm watching those Bugs Bunny cartoons with her. "I dare you to step over this line!" Each line is another primary or caucus. She has staked her campaign on winning Texas and Ohio. Hey, Hil? Give Rudy a call. Ask him how spending all his time in one state, gambling on winning it worked out for him.

Stay tuned, the wild ride is not yet over. Not by a longshot.

"A President Like My Father"

When the Kennedy family steps up, I listen. Granted, I remember Ted Kennedy's abortive attempt to unseat Jimmy Carter in 1980, but when the Lion of the Senate roars, it's time to sit up and take notice.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has joined with his niece, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, in endorsing Barack Obama for President of the United States.

In yesterday's New York Times, Caroline, the child of John F. Kennedy, endorsed Obama in an op-ed piece, A President Like My Father.

Of the remaining candidates in the race, I have been leading toward John Edwards. I have long maintained that Hillary, while dominant, is unelectable. Obama is fresh, he's new, he represents change. But I still don't know if this country is ready to elect a black man. I will admit to being very impressed at the margin of victory in South Carolina.

For now, I'll go along and see what Super Duper Tuesday brings.

What About Mike Gravel?

So I guess I am not going to have a chance to vote for Mike Gravel in the MD Primary . . . there is no word from Mad Mike. His whereabouts are unknown. Saturday, the Democrats will complete the other part of the South Carolina Primary. At this moment, the remaining candidates are debating in Myrtle Beach.

I was getting a haircut today and on my left was an older white woman getting her hair cut by an African-American woman, probably in her late 20s-early 30s. I happened to overhear when they started talking politics. I was intrigued to hear that the older white woman was more inclined to vote for Hillary after she showed some emotion before the NH primary. The black woman was going to vote for her until that point. It was a little microcosm of the electorate that I found interesting.

I am still disappointed by John Edwards. If he can't win in South Carolina, there may be no future for him or a role at the convention for that matter. I also can't see him taking the number 2 spot again.

Here is how the delegate count looks for the Democrats among the four remaining candidates.

Needed to nominate: 2025
Total delegate votes: 4049

• Hillary Clinton - 236
• Barack Obama - 136
• John Edwards - 50
• Dennis Kucinich - 1
  

Mac is Back, The Hunt[er] is Over

Another weekend, another two Republican contests in the books. The Nevada Caucuses and the GOP South Carolina primary were this past Saturday. John McCain is continuing his "Lazarus-like" comeback, capturing a primary that eluded him eight years ago. The two events also knocked Duncan Hunter from the presidential sweepstakes (but what about the one delegate he won?).

I still can't believe that McCain can win. I have heard a lot of talk about getting him to commit to serving only one term. Like he would go on the record and aver that. We will see how things go in Florida this weekend and then on Tsunami Tuesday. Of course, Florida is shaping up as the last stand of Rudy Giuliani. He has had the state to himself for some time and if he doesn't win here, time to pack up the tents and head back into his 9/11 bunker.

According to the Washington Post here are the latest delegate counts.
Needed to nominate: 1191
Total delegates: 2380

• Mitt Romney - 59
• Mike Huckabee - 40
• John McCain - 36
• Fred Thompson - 5
• Ron Paul - 4
• Rudy Giuliani - 1

Three down, 47 to go

Iowa went first and then Tuesday, New Hampshire. The Wyoming Republicans snuck in there between the two. Here's how they went:

Iowa (Republicans):

1. Huckabee - 37%, 17 delegates
2. Romney - 25%, 12 delegates
3. McCain - 13%, 3 delegates
4. Thompson - 13%, 3 delegates
5. Paul - 10%, 2 delegates
6. Giuliani - 4%, 0 delegates
7. Hunter - 1%, 0 delegates

Iowa (Democrats)

1. Obama - 38%, 16 delegates
2. Edwards - 30%, 14 delegates
3. Clinton - 29%, 15 delegates

Wyoming (Republicans)

1. Romney - 67%, 8 delegates
2. Thompson - 25%, 3 delegates
3. Hunter - 8%, 1 delegate (OH, HE'S ON FIRE NOW!)

New Hampshire (Democrats)

1. Clinton - 39%, 9 delegates
2. Obama - 37%, 9 delegates
3. Edwards - 17%, 3 delegates
   

New Hampshire (Republicans)

1. McCain - 37%, 7 delegates
2. Romney - 32%, 4 delegates
3. Huckabee - 11%, 1 delegate

Now its on to Michigan then Nevada, and South Carolina.

If you need a primer on how the delegate selection process works, read this.

Can't he run again?

I was but five years old when George McGovern ran for president as a Democrat in 1972. He was, of course, crushed under the Nixon landslide. McGovern is 85 now and has outlived most of his political contemporaries. He has put the current president in his sights.

"Why I Believe Bush Must Go" - today's Washington Post

The sub-title of the editorial - "Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse."

I love being a Democrat.

Done With Hawkeyes, Off to Granites

For the Republicans - Huckabee vanquishes the Mormon and heads off to New Hampshire without much money or support. How big will the bounce be? Is it enough to stop the surging John McCain, who is fighting his last stand in the Granite State. Will New Hampshire make McCain the "new Comeback Kid?" We'll find out Tuesday. What is evident is that by Tuesday the Republicans should be down to a three man race. Sorry, Dr. Paul, your campaign is terminal. And if Romney comes in a distant third, you should be able to stick a fork in him, too. He'll be done.

A donkey is sort of like a horse right? For we have got ourselves a horse race for the Democrats. Obama's win was much more surprising than Huckabee's (Iowa voters think more like an evangelical Christian than a black man from the city) and it is bad news for the Clinton camp. Well, we have said it all along, she is unelectable. Finally, the voters are coming around to that. I would have liked Edwards to have done a little better, but he is managing. I don't know how long the three man (person) race can last, but it is certainly exciting.

House of Representatives Update

"No, I'm sorry Ms. Bono-Mack, you may not vote twice, just because you married another House member." Yes, Mary Bono (R-CA), the widow of our dear friend, Sonny, married fellow Representative Connie Mack (R-FL) earlier this month. While it seems that the two of them are safe in their seats in the House, what does the rest of the table look like?

Can the Democrats increase their margins? Can the Republicans claw their way back from the pit? The thing about House races is that as soon as you get elected, you have to start campaigning again, especially if you are in a district that is competitive. Granted with Gerrymandering, there are fewer of those around, but there are some seats that will be newsworthy in 2008.

Larry Sabato, over there at the Crystal Ball again, has come out with his Congressional outlook. He starts off by saying,

Truly important election years for the U.S. House of Representatives come around only every so often-years when party control is at stake and the House actually changes hands or the balance of power is significantly altered one way or the other.

Since 1970 we have had five of those years:

[We could have a quiz and make you name them . . . nah, here they are]

• 1974 - a direct result of Watergate, the Democrats netted 48 House seats (along with 75 freshmen, who shook up the House)
• 1980 - The Republican landslide with Ronald Reagan's initial election, the GOP added 33 House seats. It didn't give them the majority, but it came damn close.
• 1982 - And the pendulum swings back. During a recession, Democrats won back 26 of the 33 seats they had lost two years earlier.
• 1994 - The Contract with America and our man Newt. Forty years of Democratic control of the House came to an end, as the GOP added 52 seats
• 2006 - After 12 years, Democrats screamed back gaining 30 House seats

There is more good news for the Democrats in this election cycle [from Sabato]:

1. For the first time in at least two decades, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has out-raised the National Republican Congressional Committee, and by the sizeable margin of $56.6 million to $40.7 million (with cash on hand: $29.2 million D to $2.5 million R).
2. Freshmen Democrats, many of them elected from normally GOP constituencies in 2006 and thus potentially vulnerable [see my comments above], have been doing particularly well in fundraising.
3. Out of 23 open seats for 2008, 17 are held by Republicans. Open seats give the opposition party the best chance for a takeover in many instances. You will note below that seven of these are rated as toss-ups.

Here's how Sabato is calling the races in the 23 districts where the incumbent is retiring:

• Alabama 2 - (Terry Everett, R) - Safe R
• California 52 (Duncan Hunter, R) - Safe R
• Colorado 6 (Tom Tancredo, R) - Safe R
• Louisiana 4 (Jim McCrery III, R) - Safe R
• Mississippi 3 (Chip Pickering, Jr., R) - Safe R
• Ohio 7 (Dave Hobson, R) - Safe R
• Illinois 18 (Ray LaHood, R) - Likely R
• New Jersey 3 (Jim Saxton, R) - Likely R
• New Mexico 2 (Steve Pearce, R) - Likely R
• Wyoming AL (Barbara Cubin, R) - Likely R
• Illinois 14 (Dennis Hastert, R) - Leans R
• New Jersey 7 (Mike Ferguson, R) - Toss-up
• Arizona 1 (Rick Renzi, R) - Toss-up
• Illinois 11 (Jerry Weller, R) - Toss-up
• Minnesota 3 (Jim Ramstad, R) - Toss-up
• New Mexico 1 (Heather Wilson, R) - Toss-up
• Ohio 15 (Deborah Pryce, R) - Toss-up
• Ohio 16 (Ralph Regula, R) - Toss-up
• Indiana 7 (Julia Carson, D) - Likely D
• Colorado 2 (Mark Udall, D) - Safe D
• Maine 1 (Tom Allen, D) - Safe D
• New Mexico 3 (Tom Udall, D) - Safe D
• New York 21 (Michael McNulty, D) - Safe D

There are many bridges to cross between now and election day. A lot will also hinge on who is the nominee of each party for president and how big the coattails are for those down the food chain. Stay tuned.

Whither the Senate?

Currently the Democrats hold a one vote majority in the Senate. This could very well change come next November. The Republicans are defending twice the number of seats as the Democrats and several of the seats are open because the incumbent is leaving.

Larry Sabato, writer of Sabato's Crystal ball says on his blog,

Look at recent history. The Senate has changed party control six times: in 1980 (D to R), 1986 (R to D), 1994 (D to R), 2001 (R to D), 2002 (D to R), and 2006 (R to D). This is no longer a rare event. And the Democrats now control the Senate by the slimmest of margins, 51 to 49. Surely, then, Republicans have a real chance to recapture Congress' upper chamber in 2008.

Surely not. While strange things happen in politics, and the election is almost a year away, it would be truly extraordinary if the GOP seized the Senate. In fact, Democrats have an excellent chance to expand their margin of control, perhaps significantly. Let's go to the states to see how.

Sabato believes that of the thirty-five Senate races in question, twenty-five of them are locks for the party that holds the seat (11 D, 14 R):

• Alabama - Jeff Sessions (R)
• Arkansas - Mark Pryor (D)
• Delaware - Joe Biden (D) (we're guessing that presidential thing won't work out so well)
• Georgia - Saxby Chambliss (R) (and this upsets me, I would like nothing more than for him to lose badly)
• Idaho - the departure of Larry Craig (R) is leading to the running of the GOP Lt. Gov. of Idaho, Jim Risch, who will almost certainly be the next Senator (that's how things go there in Idaho)
• Illinois - Dick Durbin (D)
• Iowa - Tom Harkin (D)
• Kansas - Pat Roberts (R)
• Kentucky - Mitch McConnell (R) - there was a rumor that he was going to get a good challenge, but that has vanished.
• Nebraska - Chuck Hagel is leaving the Senate and the Republican former Governor Mike Johanns should win.
• Massachusetts - John Kerry (D) - oh, yeah, him.
• Michigan - Carl Levin (D)
• Mississippi - Thad Cochran (R)
• Montana - Max Baucus (D)
• New Jersey - Frank Lautenberg (D) - and very, very old in his second Senate career.
• North Carolina - Elizabeth Dole
• Oklahoma - Jim Inhofe (R)
• Rhode Island - Jack Reed (D)
• South Carolina - Lindsay Graham (R)
• South Dakota - Tim Johnson (D)
• Tennessee - Lamar Alexander (R)
• Texas - John Cornyn (R)
• West Virginia - Jay Rockefeller (D)
• Wyoming - Mike Enzi (R)
• Wyoming - John Barasso (R) - he was appointed to fill out the late Craig Thomas's term and should win on his own.

So what of the other ten elections?

• Alaska - Ted Stevens (R) - Oh, that this race should be competitive. Stevens may face a primary challenge as well as a stiff opponent in the general election.
• Colorado - Open seat - Wayne Allard (R) pledged to leave after two terms and is doing exactly that. The new "purple" state may very well give the Democrats a pick-up in 2008.
• Louisiana - Mary Landrieu (D) has been targeted for poor performance post-Katrina, so she is in the bullseye of the Senate races. Given the swing to Republicans in the state (see Bobby Jindal's election as governor and the fleeing of the state of the democratic voting bloc), this race is a toss-up and may very well fall into the "red."
• Maine - Susan Collins (R) is a dying breed in the Senate, a moderate Republican. She is facing off against Maine's lone Congressman and could get knocked off. Still rated as a toss-up.
• Minnesota - Norm Coleman (R) - is Al Franken enough to put Paul Wellstone's seat back in the Democratic column? Remember, this is the state that elected Jesse Ventura governor.
• Mississippi - Trent Lott (R) is taking his marbles and going home. While the Republican Governor of the state, Haley Barbour, has not yet said when the special election will be held, he will have appointed someone to sit in the Senate to gain the stink of incumbency. For that, this election is leaning Republican.
• New Hampshire - John Sununu (R) is in big trouble in the Granite state, where Republicans are dropping like flies. He is running against popular former Governor Jeanne Shaheen and she will likely win for a Democratic pickup.
• New Mexico - Open seat - Pete Domenici (St. Pete, as he is known in NM) is retiring due to illness. This seat will likely stay Republican unless Governor Bill Richardson can be persuaded to run when (note when, not if) his presidential campaign stalls.
• Oregon - Gordon Smith (R) normally gets little opposition here. Since he is getting some now, the race is being noticed, but for the time being, he's safe.
• Virginia - John Warner (R) is retiring. It is very likely that people will notice little difference as another Warner will likely slip into the seat. Mark Warner, Virginia's popular ex-Governor has announced and will likely face his predecessor in the Virginia state house, Jim Gilmore.

Gut check early prediction for the next Senate:
58 Democrats, 42 Republicans (note, that is still two shy of the presidential override margin, but a Democratic president should come along with it).

The Ioway to the White House (Democrats)

About three weeks from now, Democratic voters will convene for the Iowa Caucuses. On the Democratic side, it has come down to a horse race between Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama. I still believe that when it comes right down to it, people will go into the polling place and say to themselves, "I can't bring myself to vote for a woman, or a black man." This is what John Edwards is counting on. He is not running for second place a second time.

However this all shakes out, the latest polls are showing that any of those three Democrats will beat the Republican nominee (in the case of Mike Huckabee, by double digits).

In the interests of full disclosure, there are other candidates running for the Democratic nomination. No, really there are.

The rest of the field:

• Senator Joe Biden (DE) - again, as I have said before, he's really running for Secretary of State.
• Senator Chris Dodd (CT) - not a chance, Chris, go back to the Senate.
• Former Senator Mike Gravel (AK/VA) - every time I say his name, Mrs. BA goes, "Who?"
• Representative Dennis Kucinich (OH) - he's got the UFO lovers vote sewn up
• Governor Bill Richardson (NM) - I really like him, but he is running for the vice presidency.

So how do we think Iowa will shake out? Here's the predicted order of finish for the first three contests (Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina):

1. Barack Obama
2. Hillary Clinton
3. John Edwards

The lesser candidates will likely not survive after this point. Further, there is a significant possibility that the Democrats will see a brokered convention because they apportion their delegates differently than the Republicans. It is not winner take all, and will the three front runners all close in poll numbers the number of delegates for each contest could get split three ways.

Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

I Heart Huckabee?

I would like to say I thought this all the time, but it would conflict with my other belief that America does not elect a president with a vowel at the end of his name. With those disclaimers, what is up with Mike Huckabee? The new man from Hope, Arkansas, albeit from the other side of the aisle, is positioning himself to win Iowa and possibly South Carolina.

With less than a month to go before the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, here are my predictions for what the Republican field might look like going into Tsunami Tuesday.

Here are the Republican candidates, in case you have been living in a vacuum or under a rock:

• Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York
• Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas
• Duncan Hunter, Congressman from California
• John McCain, Senator from Arizona
• Ron Paul, Representative from Texas
• Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts
• Tom Tancredo, Congressman from Colorado
• Fred Thompson, Actor, former Senator from Tennessee

The Washington Post has started a series on the candidates, which has been very good. It focuses on the "front-runners" and for the Republicans, that means, Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Romney, and Thompson. While Congressmen Paul, Tancredo, and Hunter are certainly interesting in their own right, they will not be the nominee of their party. So, for our purposes here, they are not a factor.

Iowa: The Republicans are starving for someone that thinks like they do. Despite Mitt Romney's millions of dollars spent in the Hawkeye State, I don't think it's going to happen for him. Ditto for Rudy. Iowans will go for the guy who sounds like them.

Projected Finish:

1. Huckabee
2. Romney
3. Giuliani
4. Thompson
5. McCain

New Hampshire: Romney's last stand. If he can't win here, next to his putative home of Massachusetts, stick a fork in him, he's done. McCain needs the big win, too, but again, as I have said all along, I never thought he would make it this far.

Projected Finish:

1. Romney
2. Giuliani
3. Huckabee
4. Thompson
5. McCain

South Carolina: The third prize in the front-loaded delegate sweepstakes. McCain has spent a lot of time here and, unfortunately it is not paying off for him. He will probably make it to this primary and they quietly walk away.

Projected Finish:

1. Huckabee
2. Giuliani
3. Romney
4. McCain
5. Thompson

Once these three contests are over, I think that both McCain and Thompson will withdraw. Giuliani still leads in most national polls on the race for the nomination, but Huckabee is closing the ground fast. The big question will be is where do the supporters of McCain and Thompson go when those tents come down? That may be the best news for Mitt Romney. In a three-person race, he will come off as the most "presidential" (again, the vowel thing) and should get a good bump going into "Super-Duper Tuesday."

I still maintain that at least one party or the other may go into their convention without one individual holding enough delegates to get the nomination on the first ballot. God, I would love that. I would take time off to sit in front of C-Span to watch.

Coming next, why can't John Edwards pass Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Come back soon. I'll be here.

Answers to the second quiz

Here are the answers to the second quiz, which appeared last Sunday.

1. Which member appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a professional athlete?
• Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) in the March 1, 1965 issue. (He was a professional baseball player.)
  
2. How many current governors served in Congress?
• 10 of 50 (Bob Riley - Alabama, Butch Otter - Idaho, Rod Blagojevich - Illinois, Ernie Fletcher - Kentucky, John Baldacci - Maine, Jim Gibbons - Nevada, Jon Corzine - New Jersey, Bill Richardson - New Mexico, Ted Strickland - Ohio, Mark Sanford, South Carolina)
  
3. How many Senators served in the House?
• 49 of 100
  
4. How many Senators are children of Senators?
• Five - Evan Bayh (D-IN), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Pryor (D-AR).
  
5. How many presidents has Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.) served under since he was sworn in?
• Ten, Dingell took office in December 1955.
  
6. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore failed to win 30 percent of the vote in four states in 2000. Name them.
• Alaska (28%), Idaho (28%), Utah (26%), Wyoming (28%)
  
7. Which three states switched their presidential vote from 2000 to 2004?
• Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico

Congress, it's just trivial!

Here are the answers from last week's quiz. How'd you do? Are you ready for some politics? Stay tuned.

1. Which member of Congress is the only one who refuses to disclose his or her date of birth?
• Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) - best the Congressional Biographical Dictionary can say is December 1952.
  
2. Which member of Congress is baseball great Hank Aaron's brother-in-law?
• Representative David Scott (D-GA)
3. Which member of Congress delivered his 2002 opponent's baby?
• Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX)
  
4. Which member of Congress worked for Jerry Springer's 1982 Ohio gubernatorial campaign?
• Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
  
5. Which member of Congress carried the "nuclear football" for Presidents Carter and Reagan?
• Representative John Kline (R-MN)
  
6. Which member of Congress is the only member to list the addresses of all his district's bowling alleys on his congressional website? (Oh, think about this one, it's easy!)
• Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) (told you it was easy.)
  

More Questions from the Almanac of American Politics

Here are some more questions from the new issue of the 2008 Almanac of American Politics, which hit bookstores last week. Answers next week.

1. Which member appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a professional athlete?
2. How many current governors served in Congress?
3. How many Senators served in the House?
4. How many Senators are children of Senators?
5. How many presidents has Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.) served under since he was sworn in?
6. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore failed to win 30 percent of the vote in four states in 2000. Name them.
7. Which three states switched their presidential vote from 2000 to 2004?
   

The Primary Lineup

The New Hampshire Secretary of State has finally declared that the first presidential primary will take place on January 8. With that, the schedule is set.

• January 3, 2008 - Iowa caucuses
• January 5, 2008 - Wyoming caucuses (Republicans)
• January 8, 2008 - New Hampshire primary
• January 15, 2008 - Michigan primary
• January 19, 2008 - Nevada caucus and South Carolina (Republicans) primary
• January 26, 2008 - South Carolina primary (Democrats)
• January 29, 2008 - Florida primary
• February 1, 2008 - Maine caucus (Democrats)
• February 5, 2008 - being dubbed as "Tsunami Tuesday" or "Super Duper Tuesday" when 21 states will hold caucuses or primaries.
  

• Alabama

  Alaska (caucus)

  Arizona

  Arkansas

  California

  Colorado (caucus)

  Connecticut

  Delaware

  Georgia

  Idaho (Democratic caucus)

  Illinois

  Kansas (Democratic caucus)

  Minnesota (caucus)

  Missouri

  New Jersey

  New Mexico (Democrats)

  New York

  North Dakota (caucus)

  Oklahoma

  Tennessee

  Utah

• February 7, 2008 - Hawaii caucuses (Republicans)
• February 9, 2008 - Kansas Republican caucus, Louisiana primary, Nebraska Democratic caucus
• February 10, 2008 - Maine caucuses (Republicans)
• February 12, 2008 - The "Capital Primary" - Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia primaries
• February 19, 2008 - Hawaii caucuses (Democrats), Washington state and Wisconsin primaries
• March 4, 2008 - Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont primaries
• March 8, 2008 - Wyoming caucus (Democrats)
• March 11, 2008 - Mississippi primary
• April 22 - Pennsylvania primary
• May 6, 2008 - Indiana and North Carolina primaries
• May 13, 2008 - Nebraska primary (Republicans) and West Virginia primary
• May 20, 2008 - Kentucky and Oregon primaries
• May 27, 2008 - Idaho primary (Republicans)
• June 3, 2008 - Montana, New Mexico (Republican), and South Dakota primaries

Get Your Motor Running!

Don't you think that Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" would make an awesome campaign song? This on the heels of Senator Obama's admission that he used illegal drugs and drank in college (well, who didn't really?), maybe he should pick a new song.

But it is time to get pumped for the upcoming presidential campaign. Yes, sure it's been going on for a while, leading to this Onion story, but the Iowa caucuses are less than two months away! I hope that this blog will be your site for finding out who will grab their respective party's crowns and head off to the general election.

As a teaser, here is a short trivia, courtesy of today's Washington Post. Answers next week. And lots more content coming!

"Like us, you probably spend the holidays gathered around a roaring fire, leafing through the family's beloved, dog-eared copy of the Almanac of American Politics. (Did you know that Collin Peterson - the Susan Lucci of Congress - lost four consecutive races for Minnesota's 7th District before he got elected?) To pump you up for the newly released 2008 edition, the publishers offer these brainteasers to share with your loved ones this Thanksgiving."

1. Which member of Congress is the only one who refuses to disclose his or her date of birth?
2. Which member of Congress is baseball great Hank Aaron's brother-in-law?
3. Which member of Congress delivered his 2002 opponent's baby?
4. Which member of Congress worked for Jerry Springer's 1982 Ohio gubernatorial campaign?
5. Which member of Congress carried the "nuclear football" for Presidents Carter and Reagan?
6. Which member of Congress is the only member to list the addresses of all his district's bowling alleys on his congressional website? (Oh, think about this one, it's easy!)
   

Scary Quote of the Week

"I've been planning that myself." - President Bush, asked about the prospect of Putin keeping power next year by becoming prime minister.

This will come as no surprise to some, who believe that the current administration might even plan a terrorist attack (or let one happen) next summer, suspend the Constitution, and call off the 2008 elections to stay in power.