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Are You Smarter Than a Blogger?

| Tue Nov. 4, 2008 9:57 AM PST

ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A BLOGGER?....Want to amuse yourself while you wait for election results? In 2004 the Guardian entertained us with a campaign quiz on election day, and I blew it, getting only 33 out of 40 correct. Pretty poor for a political blogger, I thought. This year's quiz, however, is way harder, chock full of questions that require specific dates and numerical answers. The final two questions were gimmes, but even so I only got 20 out of 30 right. I guess that means I should turn in my keyboard.

Anyway, the quiz is here. Have fun.

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Comments

Submitted by MJ (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:02 AM PST.

I got 20/30 too.

Submitted by dc (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:04 AM PST.

20/30 as well

Submitted by AlanW (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:04 AM PST.

I got 20 out of 30, third. Tough quiz. I think I was close on about five more. Is accurately remembering stuff from the primaries important at this stage?

Submitted by ManfromMadras (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:07 AM PST.

25/30, not bad...but then I'm completely obsessed by this race...

Submitted by Jon (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:07 AM PST.

I beat you by one (21 out of 30), but I'm sure it was just a lucky guess that got me there.

Submitted by Paul (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:09 AM PST.

20 out of 30

Submitted by dru (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:11 AM PST.

20/30. This is quite a trend.............Hopefully it's graded on a curve or we'll never get into that Ivy league school

Submitted by Joe Nick (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:12 AM PST.

22/30 and they said I wasn't obsessed. So how come I'm spending all day reading blogs and political websites?

Guess I gotta go back to work tomorrow.

Submitted by Bob (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:13 AM PST.

I got 24/30. Can I have a job?

Submitted by JRosen (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:14 AM PST.

19 out of 30. I'm just a retired musician.

Submitted by dr2chase (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:15 AM PST.

19/30

Submitted by kenga (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:15 AM PST.

20/30 also.
Although I'm sure I picked the correct answer for another 4 ...
Screwy widget, or bone-headed participant?

Submitted by anandine (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:15 AM PST.

Holy crap! I read two daily newspapers, listen to NPR morning and afternoon, read a bunch of lefty blogs, and watch both Stewart and Colbert but still got only 20/30, which seems to be the mode today.

I attribute it to old age.

Submitted by Kathy Sullivan (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:19 AM PST.

I got 23 out of 30. Not bad for an old lady of 59.

Submitted by Shine (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:20 AM PST.

24/30. In your face, Drum!

The last question, I remember McCain going to some German place in Ohio, but Schmidt's Fudge House? I thought that was a joke answer.

Submitted by Kelley (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:20 AM PST.

20/30. Bob clearly rocks!

Submitted by pk (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:21 AM PST.

Wow! I got 22 and I'm a Canadian. Let's say I had a few lucky guesses.

Submitted by neil (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:21 AM PST.

26, and I'm amazed I got more than anyone else who's posted so far!

(But who would know how long Dreams has been on the NYT bestseller list?)

Submitted by scritic (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:23 AM PST.

18/30 :-( but not bad for someone who won't even be voting...

Submitted by bluetexas (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:25 AM PST.

20 of 30 also.

Is that the average detail-recall of the readership of this blog(ger), or what? In any case, not sure that some of the questions tested relevant knowledge.

As for me, just a regular old blog reader ... well, about five times a day.

Submitted by Ernst (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:25 AM PST.

23/30

Bob beat me by one. And I had a correct one but changed it... so stupid...

Submitted by Ernst (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:27 AM PST.

You say you remembered Schmidt's Fudge House then?

Submitted by max (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:27 AM PST.

21/30

max
['I have no goddamned idea how much of Romney's campaign money was his own (except it was a lot). I've slept since then, not to mention I never knew the exact figure.']

Submitted by Matthew B (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:28 AM PST.

24/30. Better than I expected, considering the buildup. Had a much harder time identifying all the references in this list.

Submitted by neil (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:28 AM PST.

24 of 30. Best I've ever done on a test!

Submitted by Inkblot (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:28 AM PST.

I got 30. That's why I should have been running for president.

Submitted by Sock Puppet of the Great Satan (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:29 AM PST.

22. Can I have my MoJo blog now please?

Good quiz, though: question-master knew their stuff, like listing two other Bay Areas political figures (Newsom, Camejo) as alternate answers to Matt Gonzalez for Nader's running mate.

Submitted by Ernst (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:29 AM PST.

You say you remembered Schmidt's Fudge House then?

@Neil that was

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:29 AM PST.

23 of 30, but I guessed on 80 percent of them, i.e. subconcious memory guided the choices.

Submitted by neil (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:32 AM PST.

Ernst: Ja.

Submitted by professordarkheart (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:33 AM PST.

26! Only Inkblot beats me and Neil (and I consider it an honor to be bested by Inkblot). I really need to find a better way to spend my time, huh?

Submitted by Chris O. (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:36 AM PST.

27/30. Come on guys, haven't you been paying attention?

Submitted by bucky (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:45 AM PST.

21. Not Ivy League, but could it get me into Northwestern?

Submitted by flubber (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:48 AM PST.

I guessed on almost all of them, and got 17/30, which I thought was pretty good.

I got quite a few right where I really didn't have a clue. So, some lucky guessing.

Submitted by enver (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:49 AM PST.

22/30. I can't wait to listen to music again instead of talk radio.

Submitted by Rich C (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:50 AM PST.

26/30. I thought McCain did a lot worse than that in Iowa.

Submitted by buzzp (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:51 AM PST.

20/30

Definitely a look into Kevin's readers - I think a Kossack would've done better, and I assume Nate would've got them all.

Submitted by thersites (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:54 AM PST.

19/30

If Inkblot didn't cheat, I'll apprentice myself to Joe the Bomb, um Plumber for a year.

Submitted by thepixelsuite (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:55 AM PST.

Darn. 22 out of 30. Next time I'll pay more attention to all the trivia campaigns create.Oh, wait. Isn't that what they do already?

Submitted by rich vinet (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 10:57 AM PST.

I got 21 out of 30--"knowledgeable but not obsessed" was the comment, which is about right for me.

But the ones I missed were pretty obscure like the %age of John Edwards' votes in Iowa and the number of primaries that McCain won.

So it's OK by me. tks rich

Submitted by Paul Dirks (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:00 AM PST.

19 - Bur I didn't read down to 'all of the above' in the Biden on Obama quotes.....

Submitted by John (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:03 AM PST.

I got 28/30. Missed the German restaurant and the weeks on the bestseller list (that latter was stupid, though...)

Submitted by Ian (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:06 AM PST.

25/30 - Canadian.

Submitted by Sarah Palin (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:06 AM PST.

32/30

Submitted by Idi Amin's Last Meal (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:08 AM PST.

Veinte y seis. (Comalo, Luis Dobbs!)

I am surprised I did so well. I was thinking, maybe, 18. I am upset that Samuel Wurzelbacher's retroactive interference led me to get wrong the name of Mc Cain's favourite rathskeller. I guessed Jan's Wurz Haus.

Stupid plumbers.

Submitted by psychobroad (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:15 AM PST.

22/30, but I didn't read all the Q on the Biden--stopped at the "clean & articulate". Also, to be fair, I got at least 2 right from reading the news this morning.

Submitted by B (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:18 AM PST.

22/30

I got the f@#$in best seller question though. That one can be answered through deductive reasoning.

Submitted by joeis (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:18 AM PST.

23 for me. My wife would tell you I'm obsessed with this stuff. I'm not. Not me.

Submitted by McTee (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:18 AM PST.

23/30...not too bad. Would have got 24, but couldn't help answering Guns, Gold and Greatness for Ron Paul's convention. Too funny to pass up.

Submitted by B (not verified) on Tue Nov. 4, 2008 11:25 AM PST.

Oh and wasn't the kindergarten essay a joke. Who writes essays in kindergarten? and who has teachers who remember kindergarten essays for 40 years?>

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