A 2012 campaign quiz: How much do you (want to) remember?

Happy holiday week. Here’s my 2012 election trivia quiz – a greatly expanded version of what appeared in print on Sunday. Go ahead, impress your peers! Amaze your pets! No fair peeking at the answers!

1. Which lies did Mitt Romney utter repeatedly on his way to defeat?

a) Obama was trying to “gut” the federal welfare-to-work lawb) Obama had a “Kenyan, anti-colonial world view”c) Obama’s auto bailout was sending auto jobs from Ohio to Chinad) Obama traveled the world on an “apology tour”e) Obama engineered “a government takeover of health care”f) Obama was planning to slash senior medical care by $700 billiong) all except bh) all except e

2. The credible autumn polls consistently showed that Obama would win, but the view was different inside the pro-Romney bubble. Match the pundit to the prediction:

a) Dick Morris            (I) “A Romney win…All the vibrations are right”b) Michael Barone      (II) “2012 will be a blowout Romney election”c) Bill Kristol              (III) “A Romney landslide”d) Peggy Noonan        (IV) “Enthusiasm is disproportionately on the Republican side”e) Fred Barnes            (V) “Marvelous Mitt” could get “a serious mandate”f) Michele Bachmann   (VI) “Fundamentals usually prevail. Bad news for Barack Obama”

3. Describe what happened to Republican strategist Karl Rove on election night

a) He phoned George W. Bush, and they reminisced about the glory daysb) He jokingly tweeted, “I’m gonna find myself another line of work”c) He confessed on Fox News that he’d wasted $300 million of his donors’ money d) He freaked out on Fox News, demanding that Fox not call Ohio for Obamae) He said that Obama won by bribing minority voters with gifts and handouts

4. Obama endorsed gay marriage back in May because

a) human rights protesters on Pennsylvania Avenue were disrupting his sleepb) Joe Biden had forced his hand, saying he was fine with itc) his reelection strategists told him gay voters were crucial in swing statesd) over the protests of his strategists, he summoned the moral courage to lead

5. True or false: Newt Gingrich’s first ex-wife tried to sink his candidacy, by dishing to ABC News that he would phone her to say “I love you” while his future ex-wife listened in.

6. Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who lavished roughly $100 million on two presidential losers (Gingrich and Romney) and five congressional losers, was later asked by a reporter whether he’d spend that kind of dough in future campaigns. He replied:

a) “Either that, or become a Jewish husband.”b) “Not a chance. Republicans are a lousy investment.”c) “I get more dough than that every day from my casino in Macao.”d) “Beat it, lady. Go play the slots.”

7. How did Rush Limbaugh characterize Sandra Fluke, the law student who was barred by House Republicans from testifying that insurance plans should cover birth control?

a) She’s a “prostitute”b) “She’s having so much sex, it’s amazing she can still walk”c) “She’s a sex-obsessed socialist”d) She’s a “slut”e) All except bf) All except c

8. In the first presidential debate, a listless Obama said: “There are a lot of points I want to make tonight, but the most important one is…

a) “…that I sure wish my White Sox had made the playoffs.”b) “…I just want to wish, Sweetie, you happy anniversary.”c) “…that it’s great to be here in Hempstead – no, that’s the next one.”d) “…that Governor Romney and I agree on a lot of the points I will make tonight.”

9. True or false: On an episode of Game of Thrones, one of the severed heads perched on a spike, at the castle of bratty King Joffrey, was actually a prosthetic of George W. Bush – prompting a producer to explain, “We had to use whatever heads we had around.”

10. Rick Santorum said that something made him want to “throw up.” What was it?

a) Google Image photos of men kissingb) The prospect of finishing second to Romney in the Pennsylvania primary c) JFK’s 1960 speech advocating the separation of church and stated) The Romney campaign’s decision to let Clint Eastwood rant to an empty chaire) The possibility that some public schools might be employing gay women

11. Identify Harry Reid’s 2012 whopper

a) Obama can win because he’s a “light-skinned” black man “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”b) Alan Greenspan is “one of the biggest political hacks in Washington.”c) George W. Bush is still “a loser.”d) Romney “hasn’t paid any taxes for ten years.”e) all of the above

12. In his GOP convention speech, Paul Ryan recalled how candidate Barack Obama had visited a GM plant in his home town of Janesville, Wisconsin, back in February ’08: “Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, ‘I believe that if our government is there to support you…this plant will be here for another hundred years.’ That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.” Translation: The GM plant was a casualty of Obama’s recession. When we fact-check Ryan’s lie, what do we discover?

a) The plant is still operating, thanks to a targeted Obama bailoutb) The plant was closed before Obama took officec) The plant was closed before Obama took office, plus Obama won Janesville in 2012d) The plant is still operating, thanks to Ryan’s written plea for stimulus money

13. At a Warsaw war memorial in July, the last stop on Romney’s whirlwind foreign tour, reporters sought to question a spokesman about the candidate’s embarrassing verbal miscues in London and Israel. The spokesman replied:

a) “Don’t waste my time. You people have never run a business or met a payroll.”b) “Take a hike. Come back when your questions are less liberal.”c) “Knock off the Obama bias, or you’re walking back to America.”d) “Kiss my a–, this is a holy site.”

14. Mike Kelly, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, said that something horrific had just happened in America – something akin to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In Kelly’s words, “this is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates.” Good grief, what had just happened?! What was as bad as Pearl Harbor and 9/11?!

a) The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, with John Roberts writing the opinion.b) Private health insurers were required to offer contraception without a co-pay.c) Obama unveiled a budget proposal requiring the rich to pay higher taxes.d) Gay marriage activists announced plans for referendums in Maine, Maryland, and Washington.e) The Obama campaign announced that it had opened 54 field offices in Pennsylvania.f) Chris Christie was photographed shaking hands with Obama.

15. True or False: Several months after the Pennsylvania Republican governor and legislature enacted a photo-ID law, claiming it was needed to combat voter-impersonation fraud, their lawyers admitted in a sworn court affidavit that the Republican regime had no evidence whatsoever of voter-impersonation fraud.

16. Foster Friess, a rich guy who bankrolled Rick Santorum’s primary campaign, did his bit to help alienate women voters from the GOP when he pined for the days when “gals” didn’t need contraceptives. He said the best preventive was

a) a Bayer aspirin lodged between the knees.b) a chastity belt locked around the torso.c) a Lawrence Welk record on the record player.d) a New Testament Bible clutched in the hands.

17. Name the 2012 memorial service where Obama said: “Out of this darkness, a brighter day will come.”

a) For the 5 factory workers shot dead in Minneapolis (Sept. 27)b) For the 12 movie-goers shot dead in Aurora, Colorado (July 20)c) For the 6 Sikhs shot dead in Oak Creek, Wisconsin (Aug. 5)d) For the 20 schoolkids shot dead in Newtown, Connecticut (Dec. 14)e) Obama told his speechwriters that he’d never utter such an empty platitude

18. Romney was caught on video telling fat cat donors that 47 percent…

a) of his wealth was securely sheltered in tax-free offshore accountsb) of the square footage at his new La Jolla manse is reserved for a car elevatorc) of Hispanics would vote for him if most of the registered Democrats self-deportedd) of the companies he purchased for Bain Capital have since gone undere) of the American people are too lazy to take responsibility for their lives

19. Of the 12 most important battleground states – Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin – how many did Romney win? Name the correct number. And what was his aggregate share of the vote in those 12 states?

a) 49.11 percentb) 48.81 percentc) 48.09 percentd) 47.23 percent

20. True or False: Obama’s re-election will usher in a new era of bipartisan comity in Washington.

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But seriously, folks. I did a morning gig on WHYY’s Radio Times, reviewing the domestic political news and looking ahead to 2013. (It’s archived here.)  My co-guest, Philadelphia Inquirer foreign affairs columnist Trudy Rubin, handled the overseas realm. We both hit the gun issue.

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Follow me on Twitter, @dickpolman1

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Quiz answers: 1(g), the Kenya lie was crafted by Newt Gingrich; 2(a-III, b-VI, c-V, d-I, e-IV, f-II); 3(d); 4(b); 5-False (it was Newt’s second ex-wife who dished, and his future third wife who listened in); 6(a); 7(f); 8(b); 9-True; 10(c); 11(d), although Reid said the others in earlier years; 12(c); 13(d); 14(b); 15-True; 16(a); 17(b); 18(e); 19-A grand total of one state, and (d); 20-Oh please. You know that answer already.