Answers to candidate quiz
Answers: 1. A. Marco Rubio, who was then speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and a strong supporter of Mike Huckabee.
2. B. Mike Huckabee. In his most recent book, Huckabee criticized the couple for the performance of their song “Drunk in Love” at the 2014 Grammy Awards. “My reaction: Why? Beyonce is incredibly talented — gifted, in fact. She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer — without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?”
3. B. Mike Huckabee. Huckabee registered to vote in Florida on Feb. 22, 2010, and Carson registered on July 24, 2013.
4. B. Mike Huckabee. Like former President Bill Clinton, Huckabee comes from Hope, Ark. No president has come from Detroit, Carson’s hometown.
5. A. Ben Carson. Part of his assessment of what happened in his former city of Baltimore is included in an April 28 interview with GQ magazine.
6. B. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are from MiamiDade County, Carson from Palm Beach County and Huckabee from Walton County.
7. D. Neither. Both books were written by Huckabee, but neither is a cookbook. “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy” is Huckabee’s 2015 pre-campaign book, and “Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork,” subtitled “A 12-Stop Program to End Bad Habits and Begin a Healthy Lifestyle,” is Huckabee’s prescription for steering away from bad habits and toward a healthy lifestyle.
8. A. Marco Rubio. Rubio has 13 percent in the Public Policy Polling survey of Iowa Republicans released WednesdayApril 29, Bush has 12 percent, Huckabee has 10 percent and Carson has 5 percent.
9. A. Ben Carson. The former surgeon exploded onto conservatives’ radar two years ago with an in-yourface critique of Obamacare at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013 — as the president sat nearby on the dais.
10. A. Ben Carson. He’s a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who has been increasingly outspoken on public issues. Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas.
11. B. 21 percent of Republicans in the April 1 Fox News nationwide poll said they’d never heard of Huckabee. In the same poll, 8 percent of Republicans said they had never heard of Jeb Bush, and 34 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Huckabee.
12. C. Both. Carson explained his theory that homosexuality is “absolutely” a choice because people “go into prison straight, and when they come out they’re gay” in a March 4 interview on CNN. Major science-based medical organizations reject the notion that homosexuality is a choice, and after he received lots of criticism, Carson wrote later on Facebook that “my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues. I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended.” Also, the title of Chapter 10 of Huckabee’s most recent book, “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy,” was “Bend over and take it like a prisoner!” He’s said he wasn’t minimizing rape in prison. Rather, he said it was about government invasion of privacy and likening what passengers go through at airport security to body cavity searches at prisons.”
13. D. Bush has 183,000 Twitter followers as of April 30, and Carson has 323,000, Huckabee 360,000 and Rubio 732,000.
14. C. “American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone” was written by Rubio. “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future” is Carson’s most recent book and Carson’s next, “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties,” is due out Oct. 6.
15. B. Huckabee was the leadoff guest on March 27 on the HBO show “Real Time,” hosted by ultra-liberal Bill Maher, to promote his book “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy.” Carson has been subject to withering criticism from Maher, who in January called him “an insane, paranoid liar who will say absolutely anything.”
16. A. 54 percent of Republicans in the April 1 Fox News nationwide poll said they’d never heard of Carson, while 35 percent of Republicans said they had never heard of Rubio, and 24 percent of Republicans said they had a favorable view of Huckabee.
17. D. “An American Son: A Memoir” was written by Rubio; Huckabee wrote “A Simple Government: Twelve Things We Really Need from Washington (and a Trillion That We Don’t!),” “Character Makes a Difference: Where I’m From, Where I’ve Been, and What I Believe,” and “From Hope to Higher Ground: My Vision for Restoring America’s Greatness.”
18. A. Carly Fiorina. The Wall Street Journal reported the former HewlettPackard CEO and unsuccessful 2010 candidate for U.S. Senate from California would announce her candidacy online on Monday, then hold a conference call with the national news media. Cleveland.com reported on April 20 that Gov. John Kasich, of Ohio, has started a political committee New Day for America, that will allow him to raise money as he considers a presidential candidacy. And Gov. Rick Snyder, of Michigan, told Bloomberg News on April 27 that he’d decide “in the next couple of months or so.”