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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Population of Wasilla

Q: What was the population of Wasilla, Alaska, when Sarah Palin was mayor?
A: When she took office, it was about 5,000. The population has been growing since.

Did Palin Sell a Jet on eBay?

Q: Did Sarah Palin sell the Alaska governor's jet on eBay?
A: The jet was placed on eBay for sale, but it wasn't purchased from the site. The plane was eventually sold through an aircraft broker to businessman Larry Reynolds for less than the asking price and the original cost.

Picture of Palin Is a Fake

Q: Is that a real photo of Sarah Palin holding a rifle and wearing a bikini? 
A: It's a fake — Palin's head on the body of a woman who posed for it 2004 as a joke. We have the full story of how this image was created and spread like a virus, fooling many.

McCain’s Position on Abortion

Q: Does McCain want to ban "all" abortions?
A: He has said he favors a Constitutional amendment that would outlaw abortion. He would allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at stake.

McCain’s Plane Crashes

Q: Did McCain crash five planes? Did he cause the 1967 Forrestal fire?
A: No. Chain e-mails and Internet postings that make that claim are mistaken. One crash was found to be his fault, but the Navy commended his piloting skills.

McCain’s First Marriage

Q: Did John McCain cheat on his first wife?
A: He courted his current wife, Cindy, for months before divorcing Carol Shepp in 1980. He recently called the breakup of his first marriage "my greatest moral failure." But Shepp has been quoted as saying "we are still friends."

Obama’s Kenyan Citizenship?

Q: Does Barack Obama have Kenyan citizenship?
A: No. He held both U.S. and Kenyan citizenship as a child, but lost his Kenyan citizenship automatically on his 23rd birthday.

Chain E-mail from Billy Graham Team?

 
Q: Did a Billy Graham team member say Obama should be defeated "to save America"?
A: No. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association says a widely quoted anti-Obama screed wasn't written by anyone associated with the organization.

Obama and the “Christian Nation” Quote

Q: Did Obama say we "are no longer a Christian nation"?
A: He said we are no longer "just" a Christian nation, but a nation of many other faiths as well. A chain e-mail drops that key word and thus changes the meaning.

McCain’s Anecdote

Q: Did McCain lift his cross-in-the-sand anecdote from Solzhenitsyn’s "Gulag Archipelago"?
A: There’s no such story in "Archipelago." There is a somewhat similar story attributed to Solzhenitsyn, which we’ve traced back to Rev. Billy Graham by way of former Richard Nixon aide Charles Colson. But that’s not proof that McCain’s story isn’t true.