by contributor Suzanne Struglinski
“Olive pits” and “butter sticks” crept their way into trivia questions at The 5th Annual National Journal Hotline Political Pursuit at the Newseum Thursday.
The event, sponsored by the Beer Institute, Volkswagen, and Wine Institute, had teams of reporters, lawmakers and inside-the-beltway experts compete against each other answering 42 trivia questions spread out over five rounds.
Questions ranged from details of Congress or the executive branch to even the oddest bits of information. “Olive Pit” was the answer judges needed when asking about former Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The members team jumped in too quickly saying he sued a House cafeteria over chipping his tooth. The rest of the question asked what he actually bit into in the first place.
As for butter, only the Hotline knows how to turn an Iowa State Fair treat into a political question. How many calories are the deep-fried sticks of butter sold at the candidate-heavy Iowa State Fair? Answer: 400.
With 283 points, the winning “Press Pass Team “ of Shira Toeplitz, of Roll Call, Chris Cillizza of The Fix at the Washington post, Paul Kane, congressional correspondent for the Washington Post, Amy Walter of Cook Political Report and Carl Hulse, congressional correspondent for the New York Times, has bragging rights until next year.
“If he loses is that the worst week in Washington?” National Journal Hotline Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson said to Chillizza, referring to his weekly round-up column. (Congrats or something).
“The Hotline Insiders” Team of Former Rep. Tom Davis, Kellyanne Conway, founder and president of the Polling Company, Inc., Margie Omero, president and found of Momentum Analysis, LLC, Doug Thornell, strategist as SKDKnickerbocker and David Winston, president of the Winston Group., came in second with 260 points.
Meanwhile, the “Members Only” Team of Reps. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., Rush Holt, D-N.J., Richard Hudson, R-N.C. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. and John Yarmuth, D-KY came in last with 173 points.
Sanchez correctly identified the fish sent to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as an Asian carp, but blanked on a presidential succession question: “The Defense Secretary, what’s his name?” she said.
Some questions stumped all three teams while others called for fast fingers on the buzzers. National Journal Managing Editor Quinn McCord, who co-hosted the event, said he models the questions after It’s Academic, the popular local DC Quiz show for students. McCord said the whole hotline staff gets involved in prepping questions, especially during the last few weeks ahead of the event. He admits though that he collects ideas all year.
Wilson said that Davis, as usual, put in a lot of prep time for the event, even practicing with other members ahead of the event. To honor his “commitment to political trivia,” NJ awarded a Tom Davis MVP Award based on votes via Twitter to Israel.
