take away the "" around the variable name. It should recognize it as a variable. If it is a global variable you just need the name, if it is an instance variable you need to put the instancename.variable name. You can also always from the event sheet instead of entering the variable name, look at the semi-transparent window that appears above it and use the to click to your variable.
The tutorials really do cover ALL of this. So you may want to do some more of them.