First Annual World Series of Electoral Knowledge?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Round One of the FIRST ANNUAL WORLD SERIES OF ELECTORAL KNOWLEDGE^TM starts Monday, July 23 at 12:00AM EDT, and ends on Sunday, July 29 at 11:59PM EDT.

The category for Round One is.........."Unsuccessful Comebacks."  Point values are 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500.  Each contestant will attempt three of these five questions.

With applicable bonuses, the (theoretical) maximum point value of this round is 2,400.

To participate, please contact me via AOL Instant Messenger: Capier79.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

UPDATE: Round One is well underway.  As of 1:30PM EDT on Tuesday, six people have finished the round—we're still waiting on five more.  Scores, questions, answers, and the category of Round Two will be posted here once those who have signaled interest have completed the round.  As stated above, all members of the forum have until midnight on Sunday to complete the round.

ALTERNATE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION:
Google Talk: wfalbersx@xgmail
Yahoo! Messenger: foxalbersx@xyahoo
MSN: foxalbersx@xhotmail

[CultureKing]

I am trying to get in contact... the time difference seems to be a bit of a barrier though (I keep trying at about 9 PM which I guess would be mid-night there... sorry)

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

We've got about 1h15m to get in on Round 1 if you haven't already.  I'll be available online for the next three hours, at least, so people can get in on both rounds, if they'd like.

Starting at midnight tonight (EDT), we'll start Round 2: "Executive Résumés."  [Which, I think, is a bit easier than Round 1.]

I'll be posting Round 1 scores here shortly after midnight (EDT).

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Let's start out...with Round 1's questions and answers!

ROUND ONE ANSWERS!

100
This Reagan-era Ambassador to the UN has three U.S. Senate losses under his belt as a major party candidate, perhaps the most in modern history.
[ALAN KEYES]

200
This former Los Angeles mayor lost a Republican primary for Governor in 2002; his attempt at a 2003 comeback was aborted by Arnold Schwarzenegger's surprise declaration of candidacy.
[RICHARD RIORDAN]

300
This former South Dakotan U.S. Senator sought a political comeback in 2002 when Rep. Thune's house seat opened up, but he ultimately lost the GOP Primary to Bill Janklow.  Who is he?
[LARRY PRESSLER]

400
Republicans thought Massachusetts might be a pick-up opportunity when Senator Tsongas announced his retirement in 1984; the preferred GOP candidate, Nixon's former (and short lived) Attorney General, never made it past the primary.  Name him.
[ELLIOT RICHARDSON]

500
Served as the Congressman from Maine's District 1 from 1975–1983 and had two unsuccessful comeback attempts: a run for his old House seat in 1990 and a GOP Primary run for Governor in 2006.
[DAVID F. EMERY]

ROUND ONE SCORE RECAP!

So, how did everyone do?  Well, it looks like the subject matter was a bit...ahem...difficult.  Anyway!

Green means successfully attempted with points added!  Red means answered incorrectly with points subtracted!  Orange means passed, with no net change to the score.

100	200	300	400	500
Bacon King (+100)		Bacon King		Bacon King
Speed of Sound	Speed of Sound	Speed of Sound
Lt. Gov. Sensei (+100)			Lt. Gov. Sensei	Lt. Gov. Sensei (–500)
Harry Hayfield	Harry Hayfield (–200)			Harry Hayfield
		HardRCafe (+300)	HardRCafe	HardRCafe
		Supersoulty	Supersoulty	Supersoulty

Now, BONUS POINTS go to any player who was the sole person in a given round to correctly answer any given question.  HardRCafe was the only person to answer our Larry Pressler question correctly, so HardRCafe gets 300 Bonus Points!  Whee!

And that's how the round played out!

And now, the SCORE STANDINGS AFTER ROUND ONE!

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 1,600
2^ND PLACE: Bacon King: 1,100
3^RD PLACE (tie): Supersoulty: 1,000
3^RD PLACE (tie): Speed of Sound: 1,000
5^TH PLACE: Harry Hayfield: 800
6^TH PLACE: Lt. Gov. Sensei: 600

HardRCafe has taken a commanding 500 point lead over Bacon King.  BUT HAVE NO FEAR!  Round Two ("Executive Résumés") begins now, with a maximum possible point value of 2,400 points!  It's anybody's game!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Okay, Round 2 is complete!  And a new contestant has entered the mix (with a bang): Keystone Phil!

First, the questions and answers.

ROUND TWO ANSWERS!
100
Served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 1990–1993.
[ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER]
 
200
Elected Mayor of Maui County, 1990; Unsuccessful Candidate for Governor, 1998; Elected State Party Chairwoman, 1999.
[LINDA LINGLE]
 
300
Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, 1994–1999; U.S. Senator, 2001–2006.
[JON CORZINE]
 
400
Held the congressional seat left open by Arthur Ravenel, Jr., 1995–2001.
[MARK SANFORD]

500
State Representative, 1973–1979; Top Aide to Gov. Richard Snelling, 1979–1980; Secretary of State, 1981–1993; Unsuccessful Candidate for U.S. Senate, 1992; State Treasurer, 1995–2003.
[JIM DOUGLAS]

ROUND TWO SCORE RECAP!

Okay, so...now you know what questions you should have picked.  And now, here are the questions you actually picked!

100	200	300	400	500
Speed of Sound (-100)	Speed of Sound			Speed of Sound
Keystone Phil (+100)	Keystone Phil (+200)		Keystone Phil (+400)
Lt. Gov. Sensei (+100)	Lt. Gov. Sensei (+200)			Lt. Gov. Sensei
Supersoulty (+100)	Supersoulty (+200)			Supersoulty
Harry Hayfield (+100)		Harry Hayfield		Harry Hayfield
		HardRCafe (+300)	HardRCafe (+400)	HardRCafe
		BaconKing (+300)	BaconKing	BaconKing

Unlike last round, there aren't any bonus points to award this time around!

So, the TOTAL scores:

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 2,300
2^ND PLACE: KeystonePhil: 1,700
3^RD PLACE: Bacon King: 1,400
4^TH PLACE: Supersoulty: 1,300
5^TH PLACE (tie): Speed of Sound: 900
5^TH PLACE (tie): Harry Hayfield: 900
5^TH PLACE (tie): Lt. Gov. Sensei: 900

HardRCafe is still in the lead, but Keystone Phil made a strong entry into the game!

Round three starts...now!  The subject: (Very) Negative Campaigning!  Good luck, folks!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

An especially difficult Round 3 has drawn to a close!  Most contestants struggled, but our leaders managed to nail a couple tough questions to expand on their lead!


In this round, I read our contestants the transcripts from an especially negative campaign ad from the last decade.  It was up to them to figure out who the ad was attacking, i.e., to fill in the [redacted].

Here are the questions and answers!

ROUND THREE ANSWERS!
100
The phone number to an adult fantasy hotline appeared on [Redacted]'s New York City hotel room while he was there on official business.   And the call was charged to Oneida County taxpayers.
[MICHAEL ARCURI]
 
200
[No announcer, simple white text on black background.]
Senator [Redacted] embarrasses himself and his state.  He must go.
-Courier Post, 8/4/02
He ([Redacted]) should be in prison.
-Imus in the Morning, 7/26/02
[BOB TORRICELLI]
 
300
"Here's what Republicans are saying about [Redacted].
…
'…an absolute idiot.  He doesn't have one ounce of empathy in his whole fricking body and you can put that in the paper.'" 
[BILL SALI]
 
400
Here's a question. If a teacher at your kid's school, or a friend, or a co-worker, if anyone you knew actually praised a convicted rapist, what would you think?
[Redacted] did. Here's what he said about brutal rapist Ben LaGuer.
[DEVAL PATRICK]

500
[REDACTED]: Twinkle, Twinkle, Kenneth Starr. Now we see how brave you are . . .
ANNOUNCER: That's Congressman [Redacted].
[REDACTED]: We could not see which way to go, if you did not lead us so . . .
…
ANNOUNCER: Partisan investigations of real work. Congressman [Redacted]: Out of tune. Out of touch.
[MIKE PAPPAS]

ROUND THREE SCORE RECAP!

So, like was said, this was an especially difficult round.  Here's how everyone did:

100	200	300	400	500
Speed of Sound (-100)	Speed of Sound	Speed of Sound (-300)
	Keystone Phil (+200)	Keystone Phil (+300)	Keystone Phil
Lt. Gov. Sensei (-100)	Lt. Gov. Sensei			Lt. Gov. Sensei
	Supersoulty	Supersoulty	Supersoulty
Harry Hayfield	Harry Hayfield	Harry Hayfield
		HardRCafe (+300)	HardRCafe (+400)	HardRCafe
Bacon King		Bacon King		Bacon King

ROUND THREE BONUS POINTS!

And for being on top of their game, two players get bonus points this round: Keystone Phil and HardRCafe!  Being the lone player to get the 200 point question correct, Keystone Phil gets 200 bonus points!  Even more impressive, HardRCafe was the lone person to nail the 400 point question, so HardRCafe gets a whopping 400 bonus points!

So, lets add and subtract those points from last week to get the TOTAL scores after three rounds:

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 3,400
2^ND PLACE: KeystonePhil: 2,400
3^RD PLACE: Bacon King: 1,400
4^TH PLACE: Supersoulty: 1,300
5^TH PLACE: Harry Hayfield: 900
6^TH PLACE: Lt. Gov. Sensei: 800
7^TH PLACE: Speed of Sound: 500

So, HardRCafe has grown his lead, but the game is about to get turned upside down!  That's right, it's time for ROUND FOUR, with a maximum point value of SIX THOUSAND POINTS!  That kind of largess can get anyone in the game!

It works a little different than the previous three rounds, because our contestants get to choose their category!  Each category has only one question, but the lone question has multiple correct answers.  Our contestants get 200 points for each correct answer they give (doubled to 400 if they're the sole person to give that particular correct answer).

So, without further delay, our categories for our super-big-point ROUND FOUR:
BRITISH TORIES (15 CORRECT ANSWERS)  ◄◄◄OR►►► IN THE YEAR 2000 (14 CORRECT ANSWERS)

And Round Four begins.................NOW!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Round 4 was designed to give players a chance to shake up the standings—and that's exactly what happened!

Contestants had to choose between two categories.  One, "In the Year 2000," had contestants naming the 15 Republicans and Democrats who sought their party's nomination for President.  In the other, "British Tories," contestants had to name the 15 Conservatives who served as Prime Minister since the 1850s.

ROUND FOUR ANSWERS (Part 1)
Six out of seven chose to give "In the Year 2000" a go, and here are the fifteen listed with the players who were able to name each.

[Key: SuperSoulty (SS), Keystone Phil (KP), HardRCafe (HRC), Lt. Gov Sensei (LGS), Bacon King (BK), Speed of Sound (SoS).]

Lamar Alexander: none
Gary Bauer: SS, KP, HRC
Pat Buchannan*: HRC
George W. Bush: SS, KP, HRC, LGS, BK, SoS
Elizabeth Dole: SS, HRC
Steve Forbes: SS, KP, HRC, LGS, BK, SoS
Orrin Hatch: SS, KP, HRC
John Kasich: KP, HRC
Alan Keyes: SS, KP, HRC, BK, SoS
John McCain: SS, KP, HRC, LGS, BK, SoS
Dan Quayle: SS, HRC, SoS
Robert C. Smith: KP
Al Gore: SS, KP, HRC, LGS, BK, SoS
Bill Bradley: SS, KP, HRC, LGS, BK, SoS
Lyndon LaRouche: SS, LGS
(* Pat Buchannan was added as a right answer following the beginning of the Round—he participated in the Ames straw poll and then dropped out to seek the Reform Party Nomination.)

ROUND FOUR BONUS POINTS (Part 1)
Each correct answer is worth 200 points.  Being the only person to correctly name Buchannan, HardRCafe got 200 bonus points for his answer!  Similarly, for his guess of Bob Smith, Keystone Phil gets 200 bonus points of his own!

A quick total shows HardRCafe getting the most out of that question: 2,600 points.  SuperSoulty and Keystone Phil were close behind, netting 2,200 a piece.  Speed of Sound racked up 1,400 points, while Lt. Gov. Sensei and Bacon King picked up 1,200 each.

ROUND FOUR ANSWERS (Part 2)

So, if six out of seven tried "In the Year 2000," that means one of seven—Harry Hayfield—tried "British Tories."

His goal was to name the 15 Conservative Party British Prime Ministers since the 1850s.  The ones he came up with were:

John Major
Margaret Thatcher
Edward Heath
Alec Douglas Home
Harold Macmillan
Sir Anthony Eden
Winston Churchill
Neville Chamberlain
Stanley Baldwin
Andrew Bonar Law
The Earl of Derby

(For those too lazy to count, that's 11 correct.  He missed four: Arthur Balfour, the Marquess of Salisbury, Benjamin Disraeli, and Sir Robert Peel.)

ROUND FOUR BONUS POINTS (Part 2)
A lucky happenstance for Harry Hayfield—being the lone person to choose that category, by definition, he was the lone person to name every correct answer therein.  That means each answer he gave was worth 200 points, plus 200 bonus points!

That makes Harry Hayfield the runaway point leader for this round at a whopping FOUR THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED points!

ROUND FOUR POINT RECAP!

Everyone got some points, and there were a few surprise point surges!  HardRCafe is still in first, but his lead shrunk to just 700 over our new second place contestant, Harry Hayfield!

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 6,000
2^ND PLACE: Harry Hayfield: 5,300
3^RD PLACE: KeystonePhil: 4,600
4^TH PLACE: Supersoulty: 3,500
5^TH PLACE: Bacon King: 2,600
6^TH PLACE: Lt. Gov. Sensei: 2,000
7^TH PLACE: Speed of Sound: 1,900

Good news, though—now that we're in the second half of the game, the point value for questions has doubled: 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000!  It's still anybody's game!  We're back to the original question format for the next three rounds.

So, without further delay, our category for ROUND FIVE is... "1990"!  How much do you know about the world events and political happenings of 17 years ago?  We're about to find out!  (Though I promise: no questions about Cop Rock.)

Round Five begins.....................................NOW!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Round 5 returned our contestants to our standard format, but upped the stakes by doubling the point values.  Many knew the easy questions, and strangely, many knew the answer to the 1,000 point question—but were afraid to guess and risk the points!

In this round, contestants were quizzed on the people and events of the year 1990.

First, the questions and answers!

ROUND FIVE ANSWERS!
200
The fall of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the fall of Kuwait to the Iraqis: which happened in 1990?
[FALL OF KUWAIT]
 
400
After being defeated for re-election to the U.S. Senate two years earlier, Republican-turned-Independent Lowell Weicker rode an anti-tax revolt straight into the Governor's office in this New England state.
[CONNECTICUT]
 
600
The member of the U.S. Supreme Court nominated and confirmed in 1990.
[DAVID SOUTER]
 
800
This Maine Democrat served as Senate Majority Leader throughout the entirity of 1990.
[GEORGE MITCHELL]

1000
At a leadership convention on June 23, 1990, he was chosen by the Liberal Party of Canada to replace then-leader John Turner.
[JEAN CHRÉTIEN]


ROUND FIVE SCORE RECAP!

In all, some struggled; some shined.  A suprising number of people knew the answer to the 1,000 point question but passed—their fear of losing 1,000 points cost them a possible 2,000!

200	400	600	800	1000
Speed of Sound (+200)	Speed of Sound			Speed of Sound
	Keystone Phil (+400)	Keystone Phil (+600)		Keystone Phil (–1000)
Lt. Gov. Sensei (-200)	Lt. Gov. Sensei (+400)			Lt. Gov. Sensei
Supersoulty (+200)		Supersoulty (–600)		Supersoulty (–1000)
Harry Hayfield (+200)	Harry Hayfield	Harry Hayfield
		HardRCafe (+600)	HardRCafe (+800)	HardRCafe
Bacon King (+200)	Bacon King			Bacon King

ROUND FIVE BONUS POINTS!

Though Keystone Phil made no headway in this round, correctly answering the 600 point question kept HardRCafe from getting 600 crucial bonus points.  Multiple players got the 200 and 400 point questions correct, but only one player even attempted the 800 point question—HardRCafe!  By being the lone player to know George Mitchell's significance, HardRCafe nets himself an extra 800 bonus points!

So, lets add and subtract those points from last week to get the TOTAL scores after five rounds:

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 8,200
2^ND PLACE: Harry Hayfield: 5,500
3^RD PLACE: KeystonePhil: 4,600
4^TH PLACE: Bacon King: 2,800
5^TH PLACE: Lt. Gov. Sensei: 2,200
6^TH PLACE (tie): Supersoulty: 2,100
6^TH PLACE (tie): Speed of Sound: 2,100

HardRCafe is growing his lead, but there are literally tens of thousands of points still yet to be claimed in the next three rounds—especially the super-ultra-mega-big point Round 8, where each correct answer will be worth...

...er...okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Round SIX is up next.  Again, point values range from 200 right on up to 1,000.  The category for Round 6: "Iron Ladies (other than Margaret Thatcher)".

So, how much do you know about politicians of the female persuasion?  We're about to find out, because Round Six begins..........NOW!

[12th Doctor]

BTW... for the record.  I knew the answers to the two I "didn't get" I just didn't get them in on time.  Mental Block that day.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

BTW... for the record.  I knew the answers to the two I "didn't get" I just didn't get them in on time.  Mental Block that day.

Duly noted, but your score is the same nonetheless! 

[12th Doctor]

I am talking about Round 6, BTW

[AndrewTX]

Damn, how did I never notice this game!

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

With due apologies, Round 7 shall begin Sunday night, as usual.

[Sensei]

With due apologies, Round 7 shall begin Sunday night, as usual.

no worries. We know it isn't your fault.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Okay, I will be posting the scores for the last round relatively soon.

In the meantime, I'm going to officially open Round 7: "One and Out."

200 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1,000, as usual.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Round 6 marked a historic milestone for the game—our first "perfect" round!  (Depending on how you define it, there may have even been two.)  But more on that later.

In this round, contestants were quizzed on "Iron Ladies"—or, in other words, women in politics.

First, the questions and answers!

ROUND SIX ANSWERS!
200
She made history as the first (and so far only) female to represent a major political party as a candidate for Vice President of the United States.
[GERALDINE FERRARO]

 
400
The largest state in the U.S. without a female in its congressional delegation—it's been that way since Cynthia McKinney lost her re-election bid in 2006.
[GEORGIA]
 
600
This 'Christian Democrat' assumed the office of German Chancellor on November 22, 2005.
[ANGELA MERKEL]
 
800
This South Dakota congresswoman made headlines in 2007 when she married Rep. Max Sandlin (D-TX), 18 years her senior.
[STEPHANIE HERSETH]

1000
Often cited as political inspiration to Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, this pioneering female Maine Republican served in the U.S. Senate from 1949 to 1973.
[MARGARET CHASE SMITH]


ROUND SIX SCORE RECAP!

Our contestants had a pretty strong round across the board.  Keystone Phil, sadly, withdrew from competition.  Speed of Sound did not play this round, so no points will be added or deducted from his score.

200	400	600	800	1000
Lt. Gov. Sensei (+200)		Lt. Gov. Sensei (+600)		Lt. Gov. Sensei
		Supersoulty (+600)	Supersoulty	Supersoulty
Harry Hayfield		Harry Hayfield (+600)	Harry Hayfield
		HardRCafe (+600)	HardRCafe (+800)	HardRCafe (+1,000)
Bacon King (+200)	Bacon King (+400)	Bacon King (+600)

ROUND SIX BONUS POINTS!

There are plenty of bonus points to be given out this round, since both HardRCafe and Bacon King were able to answer every question they attempted.  First, only Bacon King tried the 400 point question, so a correct answer there earns Bacon King 400 bonus points!  The real winner in the hunt for bonus points, however, was HardRCafe, who swept the board, answering the 600, 800, and 1,000 point questions correctly!  Everyone who tried the 600 point question nailed it, but only HardRCafe was able to get the 800 and 1,000 point questions correct, earning HardRCafe a massive 1,800 point bonus!

So, adding those gains to last weeks' scores, we get:

1^ST PLACE: HardRCafe: 12,400
2^ND PLACE: Harry Hayfield: 6,100
3^RD PLACE: KeystonePhil: 4,600
4^TH PLACE: Bacon King: 4,400
5^TH PLACE: Lt. Gov. Sensei: 3,000
6^TH PLACE: Supersoulty: 2,700
7^TH PLACE: Speed of Sound: 2,100

So, there's no change in the order, but Bacon King makes a huge jump, ready to bound into third place and overtake the now idle Keystone Phil.

There are two rounds left: Round 7, which began a few days ago, and Round 8—our final round—where a slew of correct answers could earn you a point total in the tens of thousands.  HardRCafe has a giant, massive lead, but as you can see, one round can make a huge difference—his points from Round 6 represents over a third of his total!

Anyway, Round 7, again, is "One and Out"—that's politicians who served just one term (give or take).  And that Round begins........
...

...

...er.....September 5th.  GO!

[Хahar 🤔]

Wheee, bump.

[Bacon King]

aw, I forgot about this, it was fun.

[Хahar 🤔]

aw, I forgot about this, it was fun.

What happened to it, anyway?

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yeah, this seems like it would be pretty fun.

[Türkisblau]

bump