Q: Does the person with the most money ALWAYS win the presidential nomination?
A: No. The biggest money-raisers are beaten fairly regularly. Just ask Howard Dean.
Stories by Brooks Jackson
Director Emeritus, FactCheck.org
Giuliani Visits Mistress
Q: Did Giuliani break the law using city funds while visiting his mistress?
A: No. Reporters who broke the story didn’t suggest he acted illegally.
Huckabee’s Attack Ad Runs After All
Summary
The ad Huckabee said he decided not to run has now appeared at least three times in Iowa anyway. It accuses Romney of being "dishonest" but shades the facts in the process.
Update, Jan. 4: The ad ran at least 10 times on four different stations in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Huckabee campaign called those airings a mistake.
In another ad Huckabee claims to have signed the most broad-based tax cut in Arkansas history.
Romney’s Ridiculous Hyperbole
Summary
Romney says in a TV ad that the U.S. will see more change in the next 10 years "than in the last 10 centuries." More than since the Dark Ages? More changes than the advent of the printing press, railroads, constitutional democracy, penicillin, electricity, telecommunications and the Internet all put together? We don't think so.
A Romney spokesman said he didn't mean what he said as fact, calling the statement "a metaphor." We call it a ludicrous exaggeration.
The Whoppers of 2007
We review some notable political falsehoods and distortions of the year.
More Mitt Malarkey
Romney repeats misleading claims about McCain’s stand on immigration and his own record on taxes.
Congressional Pensions
Q: Does a United States senator receive his full pay upon retiring?
A: No. A member of Congress can’t receive more than 80 percent of his or her final salary upon retirement, and the average is much less.
Supreme Court to Define ‘Well Regulated Militia’?
Q: Is the Supreme Court going to define “well regulated militia”?
A: Perhaps so. It is considering a gun-control case in which it might choose to rule on what the Second Amendment means.
Presidents Who Owned Slaves
Q: Who was the last U.S. president to own slaves?
A: Zachary Taylor owned slaves while in office. U.S. Grant owned a slave he freed in 1859, long before becoming president.
Democrats Debate in Iowa
Richardson stands out for exaggerated and inaccurate claims.