Thank you for your tremendous support throughout our campaign journey.  I am proud of the professional campaign we ran and of our message of restoring our public infrastructure, prioritizing quality public schools and promoting economic engines that provide high-paying jobs to grow our middle class and lift families out of poverty.

While our race for Congress in South Carolina did not produce the desired results, I’m encouraged by the over 120,000 votes I received.  In addition, I’m excited about the efforts underway to grow the Democratic Party in my home state of South Carolina.

I am particularly excited about the future of women in our Party.  To that end, I will work even harder to encourage more women to run for office at all levels of government.  As a National Leader with the Women’s Campaign Fund, I am working through its “She Should Run” initiative.

In order to position myself to run again, I must first retire my campaign debt.  My short-term campaign debt amounts to roughly $50,000 and is owed to staff, vendors and consultants.  My goal is to retire this debt by January 31, 2013.  Our long-term debt, that is, debt owed to myself is roughly $340,000.  My goal is to retire that debt by July 1, 2013.

Once again, I turn to you, my friends and loyal supporters, to aid in this endeavor.  Your generosity during the campaign was incredible and very heartening.

I am   asking that you once again extend your generosity to help in this first phase of debt reduction.   No contribution is too small.  Online contributions can still be made atwww.gloria4congress.com or sent to Gloria Bromell Tinubu for Congress, P.O. Box 51348, Myrtle Beach, SC 29579.

The dreams we dream for our children and grandchildren become realities.   My vision of restoring the American dream to South Carolina’s families and children can become a reality with your help and continued support.

Wishing you blessings and prosperity during this holiday season and the coming year!

If a person gets involved in politics, does that mean they are automatically experts in U.S. history and civics?

Not by a long shot.

Scholars and pundits have been complaining for years about the historical literacy of average U.S. students and voters, but recent history shows that people who lead – and seek to lead – the country often don’t fare much better.

Some examples:

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hinted in 2011 that Paul Revere made his midnight ride “to warn the British.”

When asked if she knew who the revered Revere was, she famously gaffed: “He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” (He actually rode to warn minutemen that the British were coming so they could arm themselves and prepare).

President Obama, while on the stump in 2008, claimed he had visited “57 states.” (There are only 50.)

Vice President Joe Biden claimed that Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared on TV in 1929 to discuss the stock market. (FDR hadn’t been elected yet, and TV was still in the experimental stage).

And in the recent election cycle, former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, a U.S. House member from Minnesota, said the American Revolution began in Concord, N.H. (it actually started with the battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts). Bachmann made several other gaffes, but the Revolutionary flub stood out the most in media reports.

Granted, many politicians at the local, state and national level are forced to answer questions with little or no time to prepare, and it’s normal for people to become tongue-tied and have, well, a brain fart when trying to speak on the fly.

But still, aren’t there some things that ought to be general knowledge not just for us but for the people whose images crowd our mailboxes, TV and computer screens during an election year?

With Tuesday’s election quickly upon us, Surge staff thought it would be fun to see how our two candidates for the new Seventh Congressional District did when asked some basic questions that might be asked of any student in an American history or civics class. How would they fare if confronted, one-on-one, without any prior knowledge of what we were going to ask? Without Googling, with no lifelines, and no cheat sheets.

A political pop quiz, we figured, might be a good, fun way to get to know the two candidates – Republican Tom Rice and Democrat Gloria Bromell Tinubu. Our readers could see if their knowledge matched up with the candidates’, and maybe learn something about their personality and sense of humor along the way.

In the end, we realize this exercise in pop quizzery is un-scientific, and really means nothing in the grand scheme of things, and it also doesn’t prove or disprove either candidate’s ability to govern on the Federal level.

We prepared a 10-question quiz dealing with some basics of South Carolina and U.S. history, politics, government and current events. Some of the questions came directly from sample test questions given to people applying to become a U.S. citizen; others are standard on South Carolina civics and history exams.

The goal was just to see how our candidates for the Seventh District did. The results, as you will see, were interesting.

Gloria’s got game.

Gloria Bromell Tinubu’s staff members were ready and willing to help us with our quirky little idea, even though the candidate was busy traveling from one corner of the new district – which covers all of Horry and Georgetown counties and stretches all the way up to Chesterfield and Marlboro counties – to the other in the last three weeks before the campaign. To her credit, Tinubu’s staff was easy to approach, quick to respond to phone calls and e-mails, and seems to have a sense of humor, as does the candidate.

We caught up with her during one of her down times at her campaign office, and she willingly took the quiz. She was dealing with a hectic schedule, having to prepare for and participate in two debates with her opponent, but Tinubu, a teaching associate in the College of Business Administration at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, was good-natured and approached the quiz with an open mind, even though she originally had been told it would be only about South Carolina and not include U.S. history as well. We also talked about the challenge of answering questions like this off the cuff.

It didn’t matter. It turned out she knew her U.S. history just fine.

Her results? Very good. She only missed two of the 10 questions.

Here are the questions and her answers:

Q. How many Electoral College votes does South Carolina have in the 2012 election?

A. Nine. Correct.

Q. Who becomes President of the United States if both the president and the vice-president should die?

A. Speaker of the House. Correct.

Q. Who said “Give me liberty, or give me death?”

A. Patrick Henry. Correct.

Q. How many Supreme Court justices are there?

A. Nine. Correct.

Q. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

A. House of Representatives and the Senate. Correct.

Q. How many counties are in South Carolina?

A. 46. Correct.

Q. Who is the current lieutenant governor of South Carolina?

A. Ken Ard. Wrong. (The office is held by Glenn McConnell, who took it after Ard stepped down over an ethics breach.)

Q. Which amendment guarantees the right to free speech?

A. First Amendment. Correct.

Q. What are the three branches of the U.S. government?

A. Executive, legislative and judicial. Correct.

Q. How many signers of the Declaration of Independence hailed from the Palmetto State, and who are they? (This was something of a bonus question and easily the toughest of the 10.)

A. Tinubu thought there might have been three, and thought Thomas Calhoun was one of them. Wrong. There were actually four signers: Thomas Heyward, Jr.; Arthur Middleton, Thomas Lynch, Jr.; Edward Rutledge.

Not unusual, because everybody else in the random sampling of Grand Strand residents we administered the quiz to got this answer wrong too.

Tom Rice? No Dice.

Quiz shows, apparently, are not Tom Rice’s cup of tea.

Your Surge correspondent tried repeatedly to set up a time for him to take our little Q&A, but nothing worked.

Repeated calls and e-mails to his campaign manager and headquarters went nowhere. We described the premise in detail, tried to explain why we wanted to do something a little different and how it would appeal to younger readers, an important part of the voting bloc who might not be interested in reading more traditional political fare.

We enlisted one of his grassroots community campaign workers to help and plead our case at a staff meeting, but no go. The response was both that Rice was too busy with less than 20 days left before the campaign (even though we asked for only about 10 minutes of his time) and also, at one point, that consultants from Columbia didn’t think the quiz was that great an idea.

Calls to Rice’s personal cell phone also didn’t work. Finally, there was a last ditch effort to speak to Rice in person after the Oct. 23 debate with Tinubu at CCU. During the very brief “media time” set aside after the debate, Rice laughed and indicated he wouldn’t be interested in taking the quiz, but he did offer a brief opinion about what he considered the most important issue in the campaign: “Jobs.”

Snap, Crackle and Pop! Quiz

With candidate Rice declining to take part in our political pop quiz, we were sort of left in the lurch. We couldn’t have a one-sided quiz. Who to turn to represent the other side? Then we remembered a trio of well-known characters who have come to play an important role in Rice’s campaign. Anybody notice what he’s been handing out at campaign headquarters and some appearances? Rice Krispies Treats. That delicious marshmallow snack made with one of our most iconic cereals. Since they were taking such an important role in the campaign for the Seventh, we called on the three guys who represent all things Rice Krispies: Snap, Crackle and Pop, to take the quiz instead of Rice. It’s not quite the same thing and we would have loved to have the input from Rice himself, but in this election cycle you can’t always get what you want. Clint Eastwood had to rant at an empty chair instead of President Obama at the Republican National Convention, so we called on these three to take the quiz. Despite their youthful appearances, this trio is actually more than 60-years-old. “They’ve had a few makeovers in their time though,” according to their bio posted on Kellogg’s Web site. “Perhaps that’s how they keep their youthful glow.” According to promotional materials, “Snap is the oldest and a problem solver, Crackle is an unsure “middle child” and Pop is a mischievous youngster.”

They took turns taking our 10-question challenge.

Q. How many Electoral College votes does South Carolina have in the 2012 election?

A. Snap: How would I know? I’d never even been here before until Tom started handing our stuff out. Then I had to come into town to monitor how we were being treated. But I really have no idea. Seven? Eight? Wrong. Correct answer: nine.

Q. Who becomes President of the United States if the President and the vice-president show die?

A. Crackle: Speaker of the House. Correct.

Q. Who said “Give me liberty, or give me death?”

A. Crackle: Oh, what’s his name…an attorney…Patrick Henry? Correct.

Q. How many Supreme Court justices are there?

A. Snap: Nine. Correct.

Q. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

A. Pop: Don’t ask me. I don’t care. I didn’t want to be here in the first place. I’m still mad about when Tom Rice and other people tried to shut down the bike rallies in 2008. I know he said at the CCU debate that was old news, but not to me it isn’t. You wouldn’t know it but me and the old lady have a sweet Harley Road King. We used to come down here all the time with Toucan Sam and Dig’Em from Sugar Smacks in the old days, but ever since Rice and his crowd tried to “Take Back May,” I don’t want anything to do with Myrtle Beach. You can actually take the election and this whole quiz and (expletive deleted…)

Q. How many counties are there in South Carolina?

A. Crackle: 40? I don’t know the exact number, but I think (former congressional candidate and former Lt. Governor) Andre Bauer has lived in just about all of them, hasn’t he? Wrong. Correct answer: 46.

Q. Who is the current lieutenant governor of South Carolina?

A. Snap: I thought Andre Bauer was still the lieutenant governor. He’s not? I really have no idea. Who is? Maybe Jadaveon Clowney? I’ve heard that name thrown around a lot. Is it him? Wrong. Jadaveon Clowney is a defensive end for the South Carolina Gamecocks. And while you probably do hear his name much more than you hear the actual lieutenant governor’s, the correct answer is Glenn McConnell.

Q. Which amendment guarantees the right to free speech?

A. Snap: I plead the Fifth. Wrong. Correct answer: It is the First Amendment.

Q. What are the three branches of the U.S. government?

A. Crackle: Judicial, executive and legislative. What can I say? I’m a political buff. I know you wouldn’t think that of us cereal gnomes, but we have some really intellectual discussions when we get together. You ought to get Boo Berry, Count Chocula and Franken Berry going on 18th Centure political philosophy. It’s riveting! Correct.

Q. Bonus question: How many people from South Carolina signed the Declaration of Independence and who were they?

A. Crackle: Now that’s something I don’t know. Can I put in a call to Booberry? Or maybe Tony the Tiger. He has a real interest in Southern history. He could probably get that answer for you.

Sorry. No time left. But we did appreciate Snap and Crackle for their answers. Don’t worry, Pop, we understand your anger about the bike rallies, but we really hope you and the old lady come back some day. The rallies still go on. They’ve just moved south to Murrells Inlet. You and Dig ‘Em might enjoy doing a few burn-outs at Suck, Bang Blow come next May.