* When Susana Mendoza first mentioned this story yesterday during her speech at the Illinois State Fair, I thought it was a goofy thing for a reporter to do. I mean, really, a pop quiz on multiplication tables? Is this grade school? The Tribune’s daily roundup of its own articles didn’t even include a link to the paper’s story, perhaps out of professional embarrassment.

But after thinking about it awhile, I’m kinda torn.

* Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger accused her opponent this week of not being able to do math: “We have to ask ourselves. What’s her deal? Maybe she’s not so good at math. Maybe she doesn’t really understand what the comptroller does.”

That claim came on top of her slam that Mendoza was a product of the Chicago machine, when Mendoza actually did battle against the much-vaunted HDO after she was elected years ago. Unlike Munger, Mendoza defeated an incumbent state Representative. She was a popular, hard-working, bipartisan legislator in Springfield. Did the Democratic Party help? Sure it did, right up to pushing her onto the statewide ballot this year and clearing her path. But Munger got a ton of GOP help in her first legislative race and was then appointed to her current position by a governor intent on dominating his party.

Stones, glass houses, etc.

* And, it turns out, Munger ain’t so good at math…

Chicago Inc. quizzed both candidates for the comptroller’s office, charged with paying the state’s bills, on their multiplication tables at the State Fair this week after Munger gave two stump speeches in which she got laughs by suggesting that as a former state representative, Mendoza shares blame for the state’s terrible financial situation. “What’s her deal?” Munger asked of her rival for the role of the state’s chief fiscal officer. “Maybe she’s not so good at math!”

The final scores in our off-the-cuff oral exam, though, told a different story: Munger, 33 percent; Mendoza, 100 percent.

Munger’s impromptu exam, given to her on camera moments after she stepped off stage at Gov. Bruce Rauner’s rally Wednesday, started confidently, with her boasting “my math is good — I have a master’s in business” and pointing to her experience managing an $800 million company.

Then the math started, and things started going wrong.

Asked what eight times seven was, Munger shot back “Eight sevens is 72,” before correcting herself, “no, 56.”

* And check out the lame excuses…

Munger’s campaign on Thursday said the math game was “just a cheap shot by a bush league columnist.”

“Leslie’s record of leading an $800 million brand speaks for itself,” Munger campaign manager Phillip Rodriguez said.

Her campaign said she was “blindsided” by the questions and had just stepped off the stage after making remarks in hot weather at the rally on Wednesday. The campaign said she also didn’t understand the columnist’s accent and wasn’t given a context for his questions.

Cheap shot? Probably, but you could also easily say that one cheap shot deserves another.

* And, if you watch the video, Munger repeated his math questions before answering them, so she did understand the guy’s “accent.” And she was, indeed, given the context. Also, it was hot yesterday when Mendoza was given the very same pop quiz.

* Meanwhile…

Rookie mistake for Munger: Politicians tend to get booed at sporting events or concerts, and the savvier ones try to avoid being put in that position.

So it should come as little surprise that rookie Republican Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger got booed at the state fair Wednesday night during a Kiss concert. The boos came as she recognized the Hall of Fame rock band for its contributions to military veterans. Doubling the pain, Munger mentioned that she was there on behalf of Gov. Rauner.

* Except one politician received a quite friendly reception, according to the Illinois Times…

Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder hoisted the two-fingered rock-and-roll salute, the crowd booed at the mention of Gov. Bruce Rauner. And there were also plenty of pyrotechnics and never-gets-old theatrical tricks as Kiss paid a visit to the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday. […]

Langfelder and state comptroller Leslie Munger took the stage during the encore, with the mayor getting plenty of applause and cheers for presenting the band with a key to the city, raising his arm in the air in the classic two-finger rock-and-roll salute first popularized by Black Sabbath and declaring his support for “the freedom to rock and roll.” You really had to be there. Munger thanked the band for supporting veterans and received a gracious reception but boos broke out when she said that she was there on behalf of Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Her mistake was mentioning Rauner’s name.

…Adding… From a top republican official who was at the KISS concert…

While the initial boos of Rauner’s name have been widely reported, no one has cared to report that those boos quickly turned into massive cheers when Munger let the crowd know Rauner was declaring the day “Freedom to Rock Day” in Illinois. So perhaps they’ve stumbled upon a new winning message…

Heh.