(CNN) -- Politicians make gaffes almost daily. Some they can overcome. Some are fodder for late-night comedians. Some are deadly to their campaigns. Republican congressman Todd Akin's recent gaffe was so toxic, he may not only have killed his campaign, he may be the political equivalent of a zombie who also infects the Romney/Ryan ticket with his deadly virus.

The American public is smarter than most political campaigns give us credit for. We may not be geniuses -- me included -- but we intuitively grasp when a politician has merely slipped up or when he or she has revealed something much more significant.

The first type of political gaffes are just that: mistakes. For example, when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said he had campaigned in "57 states." Or when Rep. Michele Bachmann suggested that the American Revolution had started in New Hampshire.

These kinds of comments are generally overcome. The only time they're potentially fatal is if they occur with such frequency that they begin to define the politician. Note to Joe Biden: You are really getting close to achieving that feat.

Then there are the gaffes that are not gaffes at all. These reveal the candidate's views on an issue or a character flaw that we had not previously seen.

Rep. Todd Akin's notorious remark Sunday clearly falls into the second category.

Akin assessing candidacy with conservatives in Florida

His statement that a woman being raped could magically shut off her reproductive system and avoid becoming pregnant was so outrageous that even Mitt Romney quickly denounced him. (Surprising, because Romney failed to condemn Rush Limbaugh's despicable comments regarding Sandra Fluke, the law student whom Limbaugh called a "slut" on his radio show after she appeared before Congress to discuss contraception.) Akin's statement also brought national attention to his radical position that a woman who becomes pregnant from rape should be required to carry the baby to term.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who said something outrageous?
2. What did he say?
3. To what end?
4. Who distanced themselves from the comment?
5. Why was this unexpected?
6. What was that about?
7. On what media?
8. What did Akin's mistake bring to light?
9. Is he the fist person to make a public mistake?
10. Who else?
11. What did he say?
12. How many kinds of mistakes are there?

Numbered answers:
1. Todd Akin
2. A woman being raped could magically shut off her reproductive system
3. To avoid becoming pregnant
4. Mitt Romney
5. He failed to condemn Rush Limbaugh's despicable comments
6. He called her a "slut"
7. Radio
8. His position that a woman who becomes pregnant from rape should be required to carry the baby to term.
9. No
10. Barrack Obama
11. He had campaigned in "57 states."
12. Two