Today's contestant on the daytime syndicated Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, with Meredith Viera, was Carole Burrage. She's the wife of Oklahoma state Sen. Sean Burrage (D-Claremore), who was in the audience cheering her on.

At the $25,000 question (basically, "Why was the U.S. Secret Service founded,") she chose to use her "Phone a Friend" lifeline to call her friend "Brad," whom she identified as "really smart" and a "super-genius." He correctly told her that the Secret Service was started to combat counterfeit U.S. currency. (That's why, until the recent Department of Homeland Security shuffle, Secret Service has always been a part of the Treasury Department.)

Carole next guessed the $50,000 question blindly and got it right. After a commercial break, Viera noted the difference between the blind guess and relying on her friend "Brad," whom Viera described as a "Rhodes Scholar" and "former Congressman."

Sound like anyone you've heard of?

(Disclaimer: I was on the "Phone a Friend" roster for a contestant on the third-ever U.S. episode of Millionaire on ABC, but he never got out of the "Fastest Finger" round and into the "Hot Seat.")