OK, boys and girls. It is time for your political pop quiz to see whether you have been paying attention. If you get fewer than three correct, you don't have your headlights on; if you get three to five correct, you are keeping up; and if you are right on more than five, you may be the next Karl Rove.

1. Who told John Edwards, "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on this stage"?

a) Gov. Mike Easley, whose only public appearance with Edwards in North Carolina was after the election.

b) A Tar Heel constituent.

c) Vice President Dick Cheney, who had previously attended a prayer breakfast with Edwards.

2. Who described a passing German roadster this way: "Dag! That's pretty cool. That's James Bond Jr. over there. We could crunch him in this car."

a) Hip-hop artist Eminem.

b) GOP congressman-elect Patrick McHenry of Hickory, age 29, soon to be the youngest member of Congress.

c) Defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine, age 39.

3. Who said, "I'm tired of people who just want to toss grenades and see what they can blow up"?

a) President Bush talking about Senate Democrats holding up his judicial nominees.

b) Richard Morgan, co-speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives, talking about fellow Republicans trying to kick him out of the party.

c) Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, talking about his relationship with Democratic Senate leader Marc Basnight.

4. Who said, "He's been watching 'The Sopranos' too much"?

a) Democratic congressman David Price talking about Tom "The Hammer" DeLay's tactics in the U.S. House.

b) Linda Shaw of Greensboro, a Republican National Committee member, talking about Richard Morgan's fights with the GOP.

c) Ousted Cabinet secretaries talking about Rove, Bush's political guru.

5. Which political person compared his or her foe to Hillary Clinton and accused the foe of voting for "racial quotas, higher taxes, gay rights and the abortion bills"?

a) Conservative columnist Ann Coulter.

b) Vernon Robinson of Winston-Salem, talking about fellow Republican House candidate Virginia Foxx in the GOP primary for North Carolina's 5th District congressional seat.

c) GOP Senate candidate Richard Burr, speaking of Democratic opponent Erskine Bowles.

6. Who said, "It appears to be you must be a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant and married for the Republican Party to pay any attention to you"?

a) The Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democrat running for president.

b) Filmmaker Michael Moore.

c) Ed Farthing, a Hickory Republican, after the state GOP banned a booth for Log Cabin Republicans, a gay party group, at the state GOP convention.

7. Which national leader arrived at a campaign event in Kannapolis with police escort and aides to keep the press at bay?

a) President Bush.

b) Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

c) President Bartlett, aka actor Martin Sheen, of NBC's "The West Wing."

The correct answers: 1(c), 2(c), 3(b), 4(b), 5(b), 6(c), 7(c)