Ken Rudin

I heard about her death on the radio today and I was furious. The woman was a pioneer on women's and feminist issues, wrote "Sex and the Single Girl" and edited Cosmopolitan for decades. And yet, rather than honor this woman, the report on the radio insisted on mocking her, referring to her as Helen "Girlie" Brown. Given all that women have had to overcome in this country, she deserved more respect than that. Shameful.

Equally shameful is this week's easy ScuttleButton puzzle.

It was almost as if everyone dared Mitt Romney to make a bold move.

He couldn't possibly pick Ohio Sen. Rob Portman or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as his running mate, could he? Too boring, the critics said! Too white bread! Too uninspiring! The cover of Newsweek talked about Romney's "wimp factor." Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert — not that he played a leading role here — described a Romney-Portman ticket as "like the bland leading the bland."

It will be a while before we know if presidential candidate Mitt Romney's pick of Rep. Paul Ryan to join the Republican ticket will be a plus or minus for his campaign.

In my view, not since Jack Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson has the choice of a running mate truly affected the outcome in November. LBJ did, after all, help bring Texas to the Democratic fold in 1960. But the record for subsequent No. 2s is a bit mixed. Here's my scorecard:

1964

There have been a number of instances in recent history where the choice of a vice presidential running mate was an important stepping stone toward winning in the fall.

Of course, it's much too early to know how much of a difference GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan will make. In the meantime, here is my subjective list of the top five instances in the past half-century or so where a selection of a running mate was crucial to victory:

1. 1960: John Kennedy-Lyndon Johnson (D)

With lots of Olympic records being broken this year, I thought I'd do my part by coming up with one of the shortest ScuttleButton puzzles in recent history — just two buttons this week.

In 92 days, we will either re-elect President Obama or replace him with his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. On paper, at least, voters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia will make that decision.

But if you look at the travel schedules and campaign budgets of Obama and Romney, it's clear that the 2012 election will be decided in only ten or fewer states.

Question: What does ScuttleButton have in common with the Olympics?

Answer: Easy. Accusations of doping.

How else could you explain the week-after-week brilliance that you get in each button puzzle?

One question heard over and over again this year: Is the Tea Party still relevant?

The Summer Olympics start soon, and I have a feeling that one record — the longest time it's ever taken you to figure out a ScuttleButton puzzle — could very well be broken this week.

You'll have a head start, of course, if you know how to play.

Forget the widespread rumor going around in recent weeks that Mitt Romney was going to announce his running mate this month. Perhaps, if the persistent attacks on Romney's taxes, investments and stewardship of Bain Capital started to show sharp erosion in his numbers, he would have moved up a V.P. announcement. But that hasn't happened. With polls indicating a continuous dead heat with President Obama, Romney is about to embark Tuesday on a week-long trip to Britain, Israel and Poland without first naming someone to his ticket.