Take the pa2010.com political knowledge test

by Tom Ferrick

Being a reader of pa2010.com must mean that you are something of an expert in Pennsylvania politics, right? Well, here’s an opportunity to prove it. What follows is a devilishly hard quiz that will test your knowledge of state politics.

Get out your pencils and begin

1. Who was the last Republican candidate for President to win Pennsylvania?
(a) George W. Bush
(b) Ronald Reagan
(c) George H. W. Bush

2. Arlen Specter has run for the U.S. Senate in a general election 5 times. How many times did he win his hometown of Philadelphia?
(a) Once
(b) Twice
(c) Never

3. Over the years, there have been many third-party candidates on the Presidential ballot in Pennsylvania, but only three got more than 5 percent of the vote. Can you name them?
1.___________________
2.___________________
3.___________________

4. Aided by a surge in support from what came to be known as “Reagan Democrats” Ronald Reagan twice won the vote for President in western Pennsylvania.
True____________ False_________

5. Who was the last Republican statewide candidate to win the eight-county Philadelphia media market?

6. Arlen Specter has won the Philadelphia media market in each of his five elections for the U.S. Senate.
True____________ False_________

7. In the last 30 years, no Republican candidate for governor has won Philadelphia, but can you name which Republican came closest to winning the city?
(a) Lynn Swann
(b) Tom Ridge
(c) Dick Thornburgh

8. Name the presidential candidates who won Pennsylvania by the widest margins since the 1960s.
1.________________________
2.________________________
3.________________________

9. Though he lost to Bob Casey in 2006, Rick Santorum did win in his home base, the Pittsburgh media market.
True____________ False_________

10. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the last Democrat to win in the Republican heartland of central Pennsylvania.
True____________ False_________

*******************************************************************
Answers:

1. C. In 1988, the elder Bush defeated Michael Dukakis by 51-48 percent, a margin of 105,000 votes out of 4.5 million cast.

2. A. Specter won the city of Philadelphia just once. In 1980, he beat Pete Flaherty by 11,923 votes.

3. The third-party candidates who got more than 5 percent of the vote in the state were:
Ross Perot in 1992 (18 percent) and in 1996 (10 percent)
John Anderson in 1980 (6 percent)
George Wallace in 1968 (8 percent)

4. False. Reagan lost in the Pittsburgh media market twice. In 1980, he lost to Jimmy Carter by 51,870 votes. In 1984, he lost to Walter Mondale by 138,731 votes.

5. Tom Ridge won the Philadelphia media market when he ran for re-election in 1998. He beat Democrat Ivan Itkin 56-36 percent, with pro-life independent candidate Peg Luksik getting 8 percent

6. False. Specter won against Pete Flaherty (1980), Bob Edgar (1986) and Bill Lloyd (1998), but lost in the market to Lynn Yaekel in 1992 by 29,147 votes and to Joe Hoeffel in 2004 by 58,074 votes.

7. C. Dick Thornburgh came closest in 1978, when he lost to Pete Flaherty in the city by only 34,875 votes. Thornburgh was helped by the fact he came out strongly against Mayor Frank Rizzo’s effort to amend the city charter to remove the two-term limit on mayors. The proposed charter change was soundly defeated by the voters. Lynn Swann did the worst of any GOP candidate in the city, getting only 11 percent of the vote against Gov. Rendell in 2006.

8. The three winningest candidates for President in Pennsylvania were:
Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1968 by a 1.4 million margin.
Richard Nixon over George McGovern in 1972 by a 917,000 margin.
Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008 by a 610,000 margin.

9. False. Santorum lost to Casey 60-40 percent in the Pittsburgh media market.

10. False. Johnson did win the Harrisburg-Lancaster media market in 1964 55-45 percent over Goldwater, but the last Democrat to win in this area of the state was Gov. Bob Casey in 1990. He defeated Republican Barbara Hafer in this market 71-29 percent.

How you stack up:
0-3 correct. You must be from out of state.
4-7 correct. Not bad, but some brush up needed.
8-10 correct. You are a bona fide expert in Pennsylvania politics.

The writer is a former reporter at columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

May 18, 2009 at 6:00 am

--Tom Ferrick

Tags: Tom Ferrick