I'm not in Tampa, and I won't be in Charlotte. But if you happen to be there, I hope you are filling your pockets with campaign buttons to send me — if for no other reason than to keep these ScuttleButton puzzles going and make America proud.
In that order.
ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday 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 — eight days after the puzzle goes up. So you should try and get your answer in as soon as possible. But logistically, you have about a week to submit your guess.
I was on vacation last week. But here are the buttons used and the answer to the most recent puzzle:
For Mayor (photo of Bob Hope) James J. Walker — This button is from the 1957 movie "Beau James," in which Hope plays Jimmy Walker, who served as mayor of NYC in the late 1920s and early '30s.
That button is atop two buttons side-by-side:
1971 Spring Offensive To End The War/April 24-May 5 and Peace. The Not-So-Silent Spring — two anti-Vietnam War buttons from 1971.
So, when you combine Hope + Springs, you you may just very well end up with ...
Hope Springs. (Boy that was easy, wasn't it?) It's the current movie starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones.
This week's winner, chosen completely at random, is ... Denise Colvin of Colchester, Conn. Denise will get a TOTN Junkie t-shirt (and YES, they are coming!).
Don't forget to check out this week's Political Junkie column, which rates some memorable Republican convention moments of the past. Plus, the latest with Todd Akin and the Missouri Senate race, and a setup to Tuesday's Senate and House primaries in Arizona. Click here to read the column.
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