2012 U.S. Presidential Election Quiz

Answer: Massachusetts

He served from 2003-2007. He also ran for the U.S. Senate there in 1994. In that race, he gave incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy arguably the toughest re-election battle of his career, but ultimately lost by a 58%-41% margin.

Answer: Rent is Too High Party

He was in fact the leader of that party, and ran on its ticket in several New York races. During the 2010 New York gubernatorial election, he took part in a televised debate, where he hardly talked about anything but the rent. His answers received millions of views on YouTube.

Answer: Gary Johnson

An avid triathlete, Johnson served as Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. He left the Republican primaries because he was excluded from most of the televised debates. One of his core issues was the decriminalization of marijuana.

Answer: Chris Christie

Christie was elected New Jersey Governor in 2009, and became known nationally for his staunch fiscal conservative policies and his 'in-your-face' manner of governing. He later went on to endorse Mitt Romney for the presidency.

Answer: There were no incumbent Senators running

For the first time since 1900, not a single incumbent Senator was a White House hopeful. There were several Senators who were speculated to run, such as Marco Rubio and John Thune, but ultimately, they decided against it.

Answer: Alan Keyes

Obama defeated Keyes by a large margin of 70%-27%, after the original Republican candidate, Jack Ryan, dropped out due to a scandal involving a divorce. Keyes served as an diplomat under President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.

Answer: Right-wing social engineering

He made the remarks on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. He received much criticism for them from people such as Rush Limbaugh, and his poll numbers dipped for several months. Several strong debate performances later in the year began to revive his campaign.

Answer: Iowa

Pawlenty placed third in the Ames straw poll with 13.6% and 2,292 raw votes. Michele Bachmann placed first, while Ron Paul placed second. He endorsed Mitt Romney shortly afterwards.

Answer: Charlotte, North Carolina

Tampa, Florida was chosen to be the venue for the 2012 Republican National Convention. Both North Carolina and Florida were considered 'battleground states', so holding conventions in those states could pick up a few extra votes for the respective parties.

Answer: California

California has 55, Texas has 37, and New York and Florida each had 29. A total of 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency, so if one candidate wins all four of these states, he or she would have 150 electoral votes in the bag - more than halfway to the required total.