Problem: Washington (CNN) -- Establishment Republicans, backed by business-friendly outside groups, launched a counter-offensive this year against conservative Senate challengers after two election cycles of hard-right candidates winning GOP primaries but losing in November.

Republicans need to flip six seats this year to win back the majority and don't want the same scenario to play out again. The tea party's scorecard this year is far different than in 2010 and 2012, when it knocked off several establishment-backed candidates.

Short-lived tea party victories

It's too early to say if the party's over, but as Stuart Rothenberg of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report wrote earlier this month, "it's already clear that the pragmatist conservatives have stopped the anti-establishment's electoral momentum."

Midterm users guide: 15 things to know

March 4

Firebrand Republican Rep. Steve Stockman launched a last-minute bid against Texas Sen. John Cornyn, but he never seriously challenged the incumbent. Cornyn won by more than 40 points.

May 6

North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis won big against his top two conservative opponents, winning enough of the vote in the primary to avoid a costly runoff that would have delayed his general election face-off against Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, one of the nation's most vulnerable incumbents.

May 13

The primary in solidly red Nebraska might have been the high-water mark for the tea party in this cycle. Ben Sasse, a former Bush administration official who was endorsed by high-profile conservatives like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin as well as the Club for Growth and other well-funded conservative groups, beat his two primary opponents and will likely coast to victory in November.
1. How many seats do Republicans need for the majority?
2. which kind of Republicans launched a campaign against challengers?
3. What did the Tea Party do in 2010 and 2012?
4. Which man is referred to as a "Firebrand?"
5. who did he run against?
6. in which state were they running?
7. did he win?
8. How much did Stockman lose by?
9. Who is speaker of North Carolina
10. did he win or lose his primary?
11. did he have a run off election?
12. who will he run against in the main election?
13. is this her first time running for office?
14. What president did Ben Sasse work under?
15. Who endorsed him?
16. anyone else?
17. who?
18. any groups?
19. is he expected to win his contest?
Answer: 1. Six
2. Establishment
3. Knocked off several establishment-backed candidates.
4. Steve Stockman
5. John Cornyn
6. Texas
7. Yes, Cornyn did
8. More than 40 points
9. Thom Tillis
10. He won
11. No
12. Kay Hagan
13. No
14. Bush
15. Ted Cruz
16. Yes
17. Sarah Palin
18. Yes
19. Yes

Problem: The MexicanAmerican War, also known as the Mexican War and in Mexico the American intervention in Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico) from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American annexation of the independent Republic of Texas, which Mexico still considered its northeastern province and a part of its territory after its "de facto" secession in the 1836 Texas Revolution a decade earlier.

After its Treaty of Cordoba with obtaining independence in 1821, from the Kingdom of Spain and its Spanish Empire as New Spain for the past 300 years, and a brief experiment with a monarchy government, Mexico became a republic in 1824. It was characterized by considerable instability, leaving it ill-prepared for international conflict only two decades later when war broke out in 1846. Native American raids in Mexico's sparsely settled north in the decades preceding the war prompted the Mexican government to sponsor migration from the U.S.A. on its northeast border (since 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase from the French Empire (France) of Emperor Napoleon I) to the Mexican province of Texas to create a buffer. However, the newly-named "Texians" revolted against the Mexican government of President / dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, who had usurped the Mexican constitution of 1824, in the subsequent 1836 Texas Revolution, creating a republic not recognized by Mexico, which still claimed it as part of its national territory. In 1845, the Texan Republic agreed to an offer of annexation by the U.S. Congress, and became the 28th state in the Union on December 29 that year.
1. When did Mexico become a republic?
2. So, how long after that was the Mexican-American War?
3. Who were the parties to the Mexican-American War?
4. What was the time period of that war?
5. Did the United States annex anything?
6. What?
7. Did Mexico think it was part of Mexico?
8. What part?
9. When was the Texas Revolution?
10. Was Mexico ever a monarchy?
11. How long was it?
12. Before when?
13. Who was raiding Mexico in the north?
14. What was Mexico's attempted solution to those raids?
15. When did Texas become a US state?
16. What was it just before that?
17. What was the offer it took up from the US then?
18. Which French person was party to the Louisiana Purchase?
19. When was that?
20. What was a new name for Texans?
Answer: 1. 1824
2. 22 yearrs
3. United States of America and the United Mexican States
4. 1846 to 1848
5. Yes
6. the independent Republic of Texas
7. Yes
8. northeastern province
9. 1836
10. Yes
11. brief
12. 1824
13. Native Americans
14. to sponsor migration from the U.S.A. on its northeast border
15. 1845
16. Texan Republic
17. offer of annexation
18. Emperor Napoleon I
19. 1803
20. Texians

Problem: A few years ago, an Englishman called Roy Jones went on holiday to a small seaside town in the west of England. He was swimming in the sea one day when, as he opened his mouth, his false teeth fell out and floated away. The following year, Mr. Jones returned to the same town. As he was having dinner in a local cafe one evening, he mentioned the story of his lost teeth to the manager. The manager looked surprised. He explained that he had found a set of false teeth on the beach last month. Then he asked Roy Jones if he wanted to try them on. "OK", said Mr. Jones. "I suppose it won't do any harm." When the manager brought him the teeth, Mr. Jones put them into his mouth, and laughed and laughed. They were his. In 1987, an American couple called Jane and Robert Bentley went for a picnic on a beach in California. When they returned home, Mrs. Bentley realized that she had lost her wedding ring. It wasn't a lot of money but it was valuable to Jane Bentley. The Bentleys drove straight back to the beach, and searched for the ring for three hours, but could not find it. A few months later, Mr. Bentley went fishing off the same beach. As he pulled a large crab out of the sea, he noticed that there was something attached to one of its claws. It was his wife's wedding ring! At the end of the 19thcentury, a young woman called Rose Harcourt was on her honeymoon in Barmouth, North Wales, when she lost a gold bracelet her husband had given her as a wedding gift. Feeling very upset, she went straight to the police stations and asked if anyone had found her bracelet. Unfortunately, no one had. Twenty-five years later, the Harcourts returned to Barmouth _ They were sitting on the beach one day when Mrs. Harcourt noticed something gold in the sand by the edge of the sea. She walked down to see what it was, and discovered her gold bracelet that had been missing for 25 years.
1. What did Roy Jones lose?
2. Whrer?
3. Did he find it?
4. Who found it?
5. What did Jane and Robert Bentley lose?
6. In what year?
7. Was it expensive?
8. Was it recovered?
9. When?
10. Where?
11. Who else misplaced jewelry?
12. What was it?
13. Was she happy about it?
14. What did she do?
15. Any luck there?
16. Did it ever show up?
17. When?
18. Where?
19. Who recovered it?
Answer:
1. false teeth
2. in the sea
3. yes
4. manager
5. wedding ring
6. 1987
7. no
8. yes
9. A few months later
10. same beach
11. Rose Harcourt
12. gold bracelet
13. no
14. went to police
15. no
16. yes
17. Twenty-five years later
18. edge of sea
19. Mrs. Harcourt