Q: (CNN) -- Only two Republican presidential candidates will appear on the ballot in Virginia next year, regardless of how many are in the race.

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will have the Dominion State all to themselves. Supporters of Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann will have to be content with yard signs or donations as ways of cheering on their favorite would-be nominee.

That's because their campaigns failed to gain the requisite 10,000 signatures. It is, to be sure, a self-inflicted wound, a measure of some organizational chaos. But it is also a function of illogically restrictive local laws. They not only impede ballot access but end up denying open representative democracy to operate on the road to the Oval Office.

The United States is the only nation in the world, save Switzerland, that does not have uniform federal ballot access laws, according to Ballot Access News, a website run by Richard Winger that is dedicated to the issue. This may reflect the country's closely held federalism, but it can create chaos in a presidential year. In many cases, the rules are imposed by state party bosses who are less interested in democracy than in rigging the system to benefit their favored candidates.

Take, for example, my home state of New York. It votes reliably Democratic in presidential years, at least since Ronald Reagan thrashed Walter Mondale in 1984. But the state's primary delegates can still be a prize in a protracted Republican nomination fight. In 1999, John McCain had to sue to even have his name appear on the ballot alongside George W. Bush because the Republican state party chair and his committee essentially decided that Bush would be their nominee without the inconvenience of putting it to a vote. Local laws allowed them to restrict ballot access until public pressure and a court injunction overruled their attempted end-run around democracy. Each presidential cycle, the corrupt kabuki continues.

1. Virginia
2. two
3. 10,000

Numbered questions:
1. What state is the Dominion State?
2. How many republicans will show up on the ballot?
3. How many signatures are needed to get on?

Q: A little mouse lived in a little house. The mouse would hurry along the walls at night looking for food. Sometimes he'd find frosting from a cake. Those were good days. Sometimes he'd find paint from a paint can. Those were bad days. Either way, he'd always get scared whenever the phone rang. It was so loud and made him jump. Yesterday he tripped over a wire because he wasn't looking where he was going. The television was on full volume so no one saw it. He loved running around in the kitchen. There was always leftover food on a spoon in the sink. Sometimes it was dried food and he'd have to scrape it off with his claws. It still tasted good to the mouse. He was so happy there were no other animals living around there. He had heard a piggy ate a lot more than a mouse. He didn't want to have to fight a piggy over food. Life was really good for this little mouse.

1. No
2. Days when he found frosting
3. Days when he found paint
4. He scraped it off with his claws
5. It tasted good
6. He tripped over a wire
7. No one
8. The television was on full volume
9. He wasn't looking where he was going
10. A piggy
11. The phone ringing
12. It was so loud
13. Along the walls
14. At night
15. It's little

Numbered questions:
1. Was the another animal in the house?
2. Which days were good?
3. And which weren't?
4. How did he eat from the spoon?
5. How did it taste?
6. What happened yesterday?
7. Who saw?
8. Why not?
9. Why'd it happen?
10. What animal eats more?
11. What made him jump?
12. Why?
13. Where did he try to find food?
14. When?
15. What's the size of the where he lived?

Q: Pester came running into the room. He came to a fast stop when he saw the dog. He'd seen a dog before, every cat has, and he used to live with a black dog named Henry, but he'd never seen a brown one before. It seemed strange to him, but not as strange as it was to see Linda the brown chicken in the living room last spring. That still confused him.

He thought he liked this dog, not because of the color, but because it was small. And it was so hairy. It was a like a mop that could run around. He jumped on his favorite chair and looked down as Maggie ran under it. She was kind of cute for a dog, Pester thought to himself. He layed down on the chair and pawed at her as she ran in a circle under it. He tapped her ears as she went by, and waved his tail like a flag trying to get her attention. After a little more of this, Pester curled up in a ball on the chair and took a nap.

1. Pester
2. No
3. a cat
4. the dog
5. No
6. brown
7. Linda
8. no
9. a chicken
10. possibly
11. because it was small
12. because it was hairy
13. a chair
14. yes
15. yes
16. Maggie
17. yes
18. yes

Numbered questions:
1. Who came running into the room?
2. Is he human?
3. What is he?
4. What did he see?
5. was that the first one he saw?
6. what color is the dog?
7. who else did he see that was brown?
8. is she a dog?
9. what is she?
10. does he like this dog?
11. why?
12. anything other reason?
13. from where did he look at the dog?
14. did he like this chair?
15. does the dog have a name?
16. what is it?
17. do they play?
18. did the dog like that?

Q: Lulu is a little dog. She likes to play with her toys. She really likes her little lamb. She likes when Lauren throws her lamb. Lulu likes to chases the lamb. Lulu doesn't like to bring the lamb back to Lauren. Lauren gets mad.

Lulu likes to bark. She barks at the children outside. She barks when the mailman comes to the door. Lulu barks at everything. Lulu barks all the time. Daddy gets mad.

Lulu likes to eat. She likes her dog food. Her dog food has a picture of dog that looks like her on the bag. Lulu likes her food, but she likes the cat's food better. The cat gets mad.

Lulu likes to drink water. Her favorite water bowl is in her cage. Lulu likes that water bowl because it's the right height. Lulu likes her water bowl, but she likes Heather's glass of water better. Heather gets mad.

Lulu likes her bed. She goes there to rest. She likes to sleep on the blanket there. Her favorite blanket is from Grandma. Lulu likes Grandma's blanket, but she likes Alan's better. Alan gets mad.

Lulu curls up on the blanket on the couch. Lauren gives Lulu her lamb to sleep with. Daddy pets Lulu. The cat licks Lulu. Heather thinks Lulu looks sweet. Alan lets Lulu use his blanket. No one gets mad at Lulu.

1. dog
2. She likes to play with her toys
3. lamb
4. lauren
5. children outside
6. everything.
7. dog and cat food
8. cat food
9. yes
10. in her cage

Numbered questions:
1. what is lulu?
2. what does she like to play with?
3. what toy does she like the most?
4. who throws the lamb?
5. Who does she bark at?
6. does she bark at anyone else?
7. what does lulu eat
8. Which does she like better?
9. does the cat get mad for eating her food?
10. where is lulu's favorite water bowl?