1/86Percentage of liberals who say they’ve gone skinny-dipping: 28
Percentage of conservatives who say this: 15
12/86Number of Oklahomans who contributed $10,000 or more to the Republican National Committee in 1981: 140
4/86Percentage of Republicans in 1955 who were white Southerners: 10
10/87Number of states that have voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968: 23
Number that have voted Democratic in every election since 1968: 0
10/87Percentage of black Republicans who are under 30: 49
11/87Amount the Republican Party raised in 1985 and 1986 for every $1 raised by the Democratic Party: $4.86
6/87Odds offered by London bookies that a space creature, dead or alive, will land on Earth in the next year: 250 to 1
That Pat Robertson will win the Republican presidential nomination: 50 to 1
6/87Percentage of delegates to the 1988 Republican convention who will be selected by March 15, 1988: 58
Percentage of delegates to the 1984 Republican convention who were selected by March 15, 1984: 17
8/87Percentage of Republican Party donors who say they could not support George Bush for the presidency: 2
11/88Number of special-interest tax breaks in the Republican party platform that would benefit the oil industry: 6
11/88Number of government programs the Republican party platform proposes to eliminate: 0
3/88Percentage of the top sixty Republican presidential campaign aides who are black or Hispanic: 0
5/88Number of jokes told about the Republican candidates on late-night network television in January and February: 173
About the Democratic Candidates: 110
8/88Funds budgeted by the Republican National Committee for negative research on Michael Dukakis: $500,000
Funds budgeted by the Democratic National Committee for negative research on George Bush: $250,000
10/89Number of Democratic officeholders who have become Republicans this year: 130
10/89Percentage decrease, since June 1985, in funds raised by the Democratic National Committee: 14
Percentage decrease in funds raised by the Republican National Committee: 21
1/90Number of the 1,614 electoral votes cast in presidential elections since 1980 that have gone to Republicans: 1,440
2/90Percentage of Democratic congresswomen who are pro-choice: 63
Percentage of Republican congresswomen who are pro-choice: 69
3/91Percentage of voters who say they don’t see any important differences between the Democratic and Republican parties: 43
9/91Amount the Republican Party was fined in April for illegally giving $2,700,000 to Senate candidates in 1986: $24,000
11/92Chances that a delegate to the Republican Convention in August is a member of Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition: 1 in 7
5/92Percentage change, since 1988, in the number of Southerners voting in a Republican presidential primary: -7
Percentage change in the number of Southerners voting in a Democratic presidential primary: -20
8/92Chances that a Republican woman running for Congress this fall is pro-choice: 1 in 3
8/92Rank of Pat Paulsen, among candidates winning the most votes in North Dakota’s Republican primary in June: 2
8/92Average percentage change in the GNP during each four-year Democratic administration since 1949: +20
Average percentage change in the GNP during each four-year Republican administration: -9
8/92Number of extra dancers a Houston topless bar plans to hire during the Republican Convention this month: 20
9/92Ratio of the number of Republican Party staffers engaged in negative research to Democratic staffers who are: 2:1
1/93Number of the four cats who have lived in the White House since 1933 that were owned by Republicans: 1
8/93Percentage of Americans describing themselves as “ultra-liberal” who consider S&M “an acceptable sexual practice”: 6
Percentage of Americans describing themselves as “ultra-conservative” who say this: 18
9/93Number of the 37 contested elections for seats in state legislatures this year that were won by Republicans: 23
6/94Percentage of registered Republicans who favor ending the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba: 32
1/95Percentage of congressional races in the 10 states with the weakest economic recovery that resulted in a Republican gain: 5
Percentage of congressional races in the 10 states with the strongest economic recovery that resulted in a Republican gain: 19
10/95Ratio of the number of Republicans who say Dole is too conservative to those saying he is not conservative enough: 1:1
10/95Chances that a Republican House member voted last June against a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration: 1 in 20
11/95Campaign funds raised as of June 1995 by the major Republican presidential candidates: $50,049,048
Estimated number of primaries that had occurred in 1992 by the time major Democratic candidates had raised this much: 41
12/95Ratio of Republicans to Democrats elected president since 1900 who lost their bid for re-election: 4:1
12/95Ratio of Republican to Democratic presidential vetoes overridden by Congress since 1960: 14:1
3/95Percentage of all sitting federal judges who were appointed by a Republican president: 60
3/95Amount by which the average salary of a Republican House staffer last year exceeded that of a Democratic staffer: $871
3/95Chances that a black House staffer worked for a Republican last year: 1 in 11
6/95Ratio of campaign funds raised by Phil Gramm to funds raised by the other Republican presidential candidates combined: 1:1
6/95Ratio of soft-money contributions made to the Republican National Committee last January to those made in January 1993: 24:1
8/95Percentage of contributions to the Republican National Committee since 1993 that were of $1,000 or more: 7
Percentage of contributions to the Democratic National Committee that were: 27
10/96Percentage change since 1992 in the number of black delegates at the Republican National Convention: -51
10/96Number of Constitutional amendments called for in the Republican Party platform: 7
10/96Number of the five Senate Republican leaders who have run for president in Bob Dole’s lifetime who have won: 0
11/96Number of times speakers at the Republican National Convention mentioned Ronald Reagan: 60
2/96Average change in a Democratic president’s approval rating after sending troops into a new conflict, in points: +2
Average change in a Republican president’s approval rating: +8
2/96Number of bloodhounds used by House Democrats last fall to “trail Republicans” holding a closed budget meeting: 3
3/96Percentage of congressional campaign contributions made last year by the top ten corporate PACs that went to Republicans: 70
Percentage that went to Republicans in 1994: 41
5/96Chances that a southern Republican primary voter who says Pat Buchanan is “too extreme” also voted for him: 1 in 25
8/96Percentage of Republicans who said in May that the party’s platform should “remain silent” on abortion: 28
1/97Chances that a Republican man believes that “poor people have hard lives”: 1 in 4
4/97Net change in the capital-gains tax rate under Republican presidents since 1960, in percentage points: +7.5
Net change in the rate under Democratic presidents: -4.5
9/97Chance that a subpoena issued by the House campaign-finance committee went to a Republican: 1 in 20
Percentage of these that predate the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994: 52
6/98Number of the 524 subpoenas issued in Rep. Dan Burton’s campaign-finance investigation that have gone to Republicans: 9
9/98Percentage change since 1991 in total Microsoft contributions to the Democratic and Republican parties: +460
Percentage change since then in Microsoft contributions to the Republican Party alone: +1,863
9/98Year by which Dan Quayle says he’s convinced that Republicans “will select a nominee that will beat Bill Clinton ”: 2000
Percentage change since then in the number of Republican candidates endorsed by a union: +125
10/99Billions of gallons of water that the GOP reported released into a New Hampshire river in July for an Al Gore visit: 4
Billions of gallons actually released, and average amount released into the river each day, respectively: 1.67, 1.9
10/99Number of days last August that Iowa hosted both the GOP presidential straw poll and the National Hobo Convention: 1
11/99Amount by which the President ‘s ten-year defense budget exceeds that of House Democrats: $158,000,000
Amount by which it exceeds that of House Republicans: $206,000,000
6/99Last year in which neither a Dole nor a Bush has appeared on the Republican presidential ticket: 1972
8/99Age at which Elizabeth Dole became a Republican: 39
10/00Percentage of G.O.P. delegates at the 1912 and 2000 conventions, respectively, who identified themselves as black: 6, 4.1
10/00Number of G.O.P. presidential conventions since 1911 with a larger percentage of black delegates than last summer’s: 5
2/00Number of the two memoirs published by GOP presidential candidates last year that use the phrase “toga party”: 2
8/00Amount New Jersey’s Camden police spent on riot gear in preparation for Philadelphia’s GOP convention: $47,775
9/00Number of incumbent Republican governors who have won the presidency since 1898: 0
10/01Number of people arrested at last year’s Republican National Convention: 390
10/01Amount of campaign contributions that Sen. James Jeffords has returned since leaving the Republican Party in May: $17,470
Estimated amount of new contributions he has received since then: $45,000
2/01Rank of the Democratic Party and Nike, respectively, among sixty brand names tested for customer loyalty in 1999: 53, 4
Rank of the Republican Party: 60
3/01Number of the last 9 presidential elections in which Montana voted Republican: 8
7/01Number of the sixteen previous Republican presidents who experienced a recession during their first term in office: 15
2/02Amount a nonprofit U.S. conservative group pays drug-addicted women to undergo sterilization: $200
10/03Year in which House Republicans thrice rejected an amendment to upgrade the U.S. electrical grid: 2001
10/03Number of Virginia Republican Party officials fined this year for eavesdropping on Democratic Party conference calls: 3
2/03Amount Democratic candidates raised last year from individuals who gave at least $1 million: $36,000,000
Amount Republican candidates raised last year from individuals who gave as much: $3,000,000
4/03Chances that a Democrat believes that “most”Republicans are prejudiced against African Americans: 2 in 5
10/04Number of the 5 Republicans investigating Rep. Tom DeLay on ethics charges who have taken donations from his PAC: 4
11/04Chance that a Republican president has not won the popular vote: 1 in 6
Chance that a Democratic president has not: 0
12/04Ratio of U.S. arms dealers’ campaign contributions made since January 2001 to Democrats to those made to Republicans: 1:2
3/04Number of the 420 demonstrators arrested at Philadelphia’s 2000 Republican National Convention who were convicted: 23
Number whose cases are still pending: 9
4/04Number of votes cast in New Hampshire’s Republican primary this year for write-in Democratic candidates: 8,092
8/04Maximum voltage New York City’s main post office will deliver to pigeons during the Republican convention: 8,000
5/05Percentage of Republicans who say they would vote for Bush over George Washington: 62
2/06Margin by which total votes for Democrats in the last three Senate elections exceeded those for Republicans: 2,900,000
Number of seats won by Democrats and Republicans, respectively: 46, 56
2/06Percentage of U.S. conservatives who report having experienced déjà vu: 63
3/06Percentage of Democrats and Republicans, respectively, who say the Iraq war was “worth fighting”: 4, 84
7/06Percentage of Republicans who viewed “Hillary Clinton” favorably in an April poll: 16
Percentage who viewed “Hillary Rodham Clinton” favorably: 23
9/06Percentage of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, in October 1994 who said they were excited to vote that year: 45, 30
Months before the vote that Rep. Jim Moran (D., Va. ) said he would “earmark the shit out of” legislation if his party won: 5
12/07Percentage of Americans this year who say they are Democrat-leaning and Republican-leaning, respectively: 50, 36
Number of years since this poll began in 1990 in which the gap favoring either party was so large: 0
12/07Rank of Ron Paul among Republican candidates who have received the most in contributions from U.S. service members: 1
4/07Number of local Republican officials who have been investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice since 2001: 37
Number of local Democratic officials who have been: 262
8/07Amount the political action committee of 2008 hopeful Fred Thompson has given to Republican causes since 2003: $83,650
Amount the PAC has paid since then in consulting fees to Thompson’s son: $196,260
8/07Percentage of conservative voters who said in May that they favor amnesty for illegal immigrants: 55
Percentage who said they would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who favored such a plan: 66
9/07Percentage of Republicans who said in June that they favored universal health care: 51
9/07Average number of years by which the eight Democratic candidates are older than their spouses: 9
Average number of years by which the nine Republican candidates are: 3
Number of years that Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich are, respectively: 24, 23
1/08Percentage of Republicans today who say that free trade is bad for the U.S. economy: 59
1/08Percentage of Americans who say they trust the Democrats and the Republicans, respectively, to ensure prosperity: 54, 34
11/08Number of times that speakers at the Republican National Convention said the word “economy”: 31
Number of times they referred to President Bush by name: 1
11/08Chance that a U.S. conservative today believes church leaders should be involved in politics: 1 in 2
Chances in 2004: 7 in 10
2/08Percentage of likely Republican voters last October who knew that Rudolph Giuliani was pro-choice: 37
Percentage of Republicans who do: 58
4/08Amount that Rudy Giuliani’s campaign spent to win a single Republican delegate: $48,000,000
Amount it would have cost him to win the nomination at this rate, expressed as a percentage of Bill Gates’s net worth: 97
6/08Percentage of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who believe in Hell: 69, 52
Percentage of independents who do: 45
8/08Number of corporations that have publicly committed to sponsoring the Democratic National Convention, as of June: 75
Number for the Republican National Convention: 50
1/09Number of Republican officials who have been investigated by the Justice Department since 2001: 196
Number of Democratic officials who have been: 890
2/09Number of the four Republican-primary “rivals” in Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet who left by the end of his first term: 3