There are certain things, traps if you will, that come out every single election. Ever since President George H.W. Bush went to a supermarket and found himself amazed at the technology of bar codes asking a politician the cost of household items has been an election tradition. (Okay the tradition undoubtedly started much earlier then that but I still get a kick out of the bar code story).

So it was with little surprising that Rudy Giuliani found himself facing the question in South Carolina where he gave a fumbling answer.

Now I understand the question, especially when asked of politicians who carry a so called “working class” message. There is relevance, since less than 1% of the nation is wealthy it doesn’t make statistical sense that we keep electing uber rich people to the presidency. We do though and it seems to bother people. Regularly you hear voters and those who abstain from voting comment on the subject and lament this tradition. Yet they continue to vote them in so its kind of a self fulfilling prophecy.

Anyway there are easy ways around falling into this trap and in fact giving your candidate the approximate national price of milk, bread, gas, cleaning products etc. is probably the second thing you should make them commit to memory. The very FIRST thing is an answer for “why do you want to be president”, then the bread thing is good.