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March is Women's History Month!

It's ScuttleButton Time!

Ken Rudin collection

Has anyone figured out how the sequester would affect ScuttleButton?

I didn't think so.

ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday (or, as they call today, "Wednesday") I put up a vertical display of buttons on this site. Your job is to simply take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and, hopefully, you will arrive at a famous name or a familiar expression. (And seriously, by familiar, I mean it's something that more than one person on Earth would recognize.)

For years, a correct answer chosen at random would get his or her name posted in this column, an incredible honor in itself. Now the stakes are even higher. Thanks to the efforts of the folks at Talk of the Nation, that person also hears their name mentioned on the Wednesday show (by me) and receives a Political Junkie t-shirt in the bargain. Is this a great country or what?

You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state — you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

(Why do people keep forgetting to include their name and city/state?)

And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be among the first on your block to receive notice about the column and the puzzle. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.

Good luck!

By the way, I always announce the winner on Wednesday's Junkie segment on TOTN. But with it now less than a week until the next show, your window for getting your answer in is smaller.

Here are the buttons used and the answer to last week's puzzle:

For President Will- (with a key attached) — This item is a mini-ScuttleButton in itself. It's for Wendell Willkie, the Republican presidential nominee in 1940.

Pope John Paul II — He wasn't one of those popes who took the easy way out and decided to retire, if you know what I mean.

Bring Me Back Alive (a sign on the helmet of a soldier) — Anti-Vietnam War button, circa 1967.

So, when you combine Key + Pope + Alive, you may just very well end up with ...

Keep Hope Alive. Jesse Jackson's slogan during his presidential campaigns of the 1980s.

The winner, chosen completely at random, is ... Debbi Myers of Columbus, Ohio. Debbi gets not only the coveted Political Junkie t-shirt — but the Official No Prize Button as well!

And don't forget to check out this week's Political Junkie column, which focuses on every African-American woman who has been elected to the House — when she was first elected, how she got there and, if applicable, why she left. Click here to read the column.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.