4/96Ratio of congressional hearings devoted to Whitewater since last July to those devoted to Medicaid or Medicare: 6:1
4/96Chances that an American does not know which political party favors greater Medicare and Medicaid cuts: 1 in 3
4/96Chances that an American can name the majority leader of the U.S. Senate: 1 in 3
4/96Number of times Bob Dole said “Bob Dole” during a speech to the Iowa Pork Producers Association in January: 12
4/96Ratio of red flannel Lamar! shirts Lamar Alexander’s campaign has given away to the number sold in stores: 1:1
4/96Estimated amount Steve Forbes spent campaigning before the Iowa Caucus in February, per Iowan who voted for him: $350
4/96Estimated effect of using negative campaign ads on the percentage of the vote a national candidate will win, in points: +19
Estimated effect of using positive ads, in points: +9
4/96Average number of bacteria living in a pound of U.S. mud: 455,000,000,000
4/96Number of measures to forfeit congressional pay introduced in House committees during the government shutdown: 5
Number that made it to a floor vote: 0
4/96Change, since budget talks began last fall, in the number of known galaxies in the universe: +40,000,000,000
4/96Ratio of Americans who “could not live without a personal computer” to those who feel this way about blow-dryers: 1:1
4/96Estimated nightly attendance last April at a Maryland “drive-through theater” re-enactment of the crucifixion: 4,000
4/96Ratio of the projected construction cost of the L.A. subway system to the cost of one space-shuttle launch: 10:1
4/96Estimated percentage of worldwide ozone depletion since 1986 attributable to chemicals produced by Du Pont: 18
4/96Percentage change since 1982 in the number of federal prosecutions for regulatory violations: -50
4/96Chances that an American adult has suffered from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 13
4/96Ratio of the number of ob-gyns over the age of 64 who perform abortions to those under the age of 40 who do: 2:1
4/96Last year in which the majority of U.S. ob-gyn residents were men: 1991
4/96Price paid for 6 vials of frozen sperm last April at a benefit auction for a Boston lesbian and gay health center: $825
4/96Percentage of American children of divorced parents who have not seen their father in the last year: 40
4/96Average amount by which the I.Q. of an 8-year-old who was breast-fed exceeds that of one who was not, in points: 8
4/96Yards by which a failed suicide missed a rowboating psychiatrist after jumping off a California bridge last year: 6
4/96Percentage of Americans who believe that “most people can be trusted”: 35
4/96Number of convicted felons who won election as county sheriff last year in Mississippi: 3
4/96Rank of Strom Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster against civil rights legislation among the longest filibusters in U.S. history: 1
4/96Rank of vintner Ernest Gallo, among the largest lifetime contributors to Bob Dole and Bill Clinton, respectively: 1,5
4/96Ratio of the price per ounce of Che Guevara beer to that of a beer named after indicted securities trader Nicholas Leeson: 3:1
4/96Price paid at auction last June for the two fiberglass tablets used in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments: $81,700
4/96Price of Well … There You Go Again, a new CD-ROM collection of the witticisms of Ronald Reagan: $49.95