Political Trivia for September 29 - October 1

[Ron Burgundy]

CQPolitics.com - CQPolitics.com on Friday published a story about Republican Hal Daub, a former U.S. House member and Omaha mayor who withdrew from the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Nebraska. Had he stayed in, his bid that would have been his third attempt for that office, following losses in 1988 and 1990. Which of the following senators in the current 110th Congress lost two previous attempts to serve in the Senate?

a. Ted Stevens

Answer: d) All four senators previously lost a race for the Senate, but Stevens is the only one listed here who lost two Senate elections. Stevens, an Alaska Republican, was his party’s nominee for Senate in 1962 but lost to Democrat Ernest J. Gruening. He tried for the Senate again in 1968 but lost in the primary. Later that year, Stevens was appointed to the Senate to replace the late Democratic Sen. E.L. Bartlett. Stevens was elected in 1970 to serve the remaining two years of the term that Bartlett originally won in 1966, then won the first of six six-year terms in the 1972 election. Stevens, now the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is seeking re-election in 2008.

Reid, the current Senate majority leader, was the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Nevada in 1974 but lost narrowly to Republican Paul Laxalt. Reid eventually won the 1986 race to succeed Laxalt, who retired, and won a fourth term in 2004.

Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, lost a 1974 Senate bid to Republican Sen. Charles McC. Mathias Jr. She was elected to the House in 1976, served there for a decade, then was elected to the Senate in 1986 to succeed the retiring Mathias. Mikulski won a fourth Senate term in 2004.

Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, lost to Democratic Sen. Howard Metzenbaum in 1988. Voinovich was elected governor in 1990 and re-elected in 1994, then was elected to the Senate in 1998 and re-elected in 2004.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20070929/pl_cq_politics/politicaltriviaforseptember29october1 [link]