Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates Quiz

Answer: False

Actually, the 1858 series of debates between Democrat Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln were not presidential debates at all. Rather, they were debates for Illinois' U.S. senate seat. Douglas won that race, but two years later, Lincoln defeated him to win the presidency.

The first head to head presidential debate among the major party nominees was the 1960 Nixon/Kennedy debate.

Answer: Who am I? Why am I here?

The 1992 debates, which were unusual for their inclusion of Perot and Stockdale, received some of the highest television ratings of any presidential debates in history. Stockdale's performance stands out as one of the more bizarre moments in the political campaign history. Later in the debate, he uttered the notorious line about not having his hearing aid turned on!

Answer: He claimed there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe"

The "no math" response is from a Saturday Night Live parody of the 1976 debates, with Chevy Chase playing Ford. It was Democratic nominee Geraldine Ferraro who told George H.W. Bush not to patronize her in the 1984 vice-presidential debates.

Answer: Dan Quayle

When the young and little known Quayle debated Senator Lloyd Bentsen in the 1988 vice-presidential debate, Quayle defended himself by claiming that he had as much congressional experience as John F. Kennedy had when he ran for president. Bentsen famously responded, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy." Actually, Quayle was incorrect.

He had served in congress for 11 years at the time of his run, while Kennedy had served in congress for 13 years. Of course, it didn't appear to hurt Quayle, who went on to win the election with President George H.W. Bush.

Answer: False

Actually, there were no presidential debates in 1968 or 1972. After 1960, there were no presidential debates until the 1976 Carter/Ford debates. Perhaps Nixon learned that it was better not to risk what many considered a poor performance in 1960.

Answer: I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes

The youth and inexperience quote was a response to questions about his age and competence in his second debate with Walter Mondale in 1984; "I paid for this microphone" came from a Republican primary debate with George H.W. Bush in 1980; and he actually used "There you go again," both in 1980 and 1984.

The bombing quote was made by Reagan prior to a speech, when he apparently thought the microphone was turned off and was just joking around. Ah, Ronnie, what a kidder.

Answer: Jesus Christ

Many people questioned whether Christ could really be considered a political philosopher. Candidate Steve Forbes responded with Jefferson and Locke. Bush made the wood comment in the 2004 presidential debates while playfully denying that he signed legislation that would assist a timber company he had an interest in.

Answer: Whether they viewed it on television or heard it on the radio

It is often repeated by pundits that those who saw the strikingly handsome Senator Kennedy debate the sickly, unshaven Vice-President Nixon on television believed that Kennedy won while those who heard the debate on radio believed that Nixon won. The only problem with this enduring lesson about the power of television is that it seems to have little basis in fact. Studies have shown that the television/radio story can be traced to a single anecdotal report, based on a small sampling of people in Georgia.

There is no evidence that this was true with regard to the population at large.

Answer: True

Anderson, a Republican congressman from Illinois, was running for president as an independent. Carter refused to appear in a debate with Anderson. The League of Women Voters, which sponsored the debate, threatened to leave an empty chair on stage to represent Carter, but in the end, backed away from that threat and simply held the Reagan/Anderson debate.

A second debate featured only Carter and Reagan.

Answer: Walter Mondale

Reagan appeared confused and uncertain during much of his first debate, while Mondale was aggressive and on-point. While Mondale received a brief boost in the polls for his efforts, he lost the election by a landslide. And such is the importance of the debates. Many candidates who are seen as decisive winners (Mondale, Lloyd Bentsen, John Kerry) go down to defeat at the polls.

There are many websites about presidential debates, but among the most informative is that of the Commission on Presidential Debates: http://www.debates.org/index.html