Clay Aiken’s latest attack ad against incumbent Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers hits a couple of bad notes.
Aiken’s Attack Ad Is Off-Key
Stories by Robert Farley
Deputy Managing Editor, FactCheck.org
No Proof of ‘Lying’
Sen. Mitch McConnell claims in a TV ad to have “shocking” video evidence from Alison Lundergan Grimes’ “own staff” to prove “Grimes is lying” about her support for coal. He doesn’t.
Kentucky Coal Connections
In an interesting twist, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is under fire from his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, for “personally” taking “$600,000 from anti-coal groups.” But that’s a huge stretch.
NRA’s Ominous But Misleading Appeal
A series of NRA ads employ images of an intruder breaking into the home of a mother home alone with her baby to make the case that Democratic candidates have “voted to take away your gun rights.” But the implication of the jarring imagery goes far beyond the facts.
Settling the Dust in Arkansas
Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor tries to make political hay out of agricultural dust by distorting the facts in a new TV ad, while Republicans manufacture a bogus jobs claim against the Democratic senator.
Cherry-Picking Salary Data in Oregon
An ad from Republican Monica Wehby cherry-picks data to make the case that Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is “paying the women on his staff thousands less than their male counterparts.”
Hijacking History in Arkansas
In a new TV ad, Rep. Tom Cotton tries to rewrite history with the claim that President Obama “hijacked the farm bill, turned it into a food stamp bill.” Food stamp funding has been part of farm bills going back to 1973.
False Choice: Veterans vs. Immigrants
An ad from Rep. Bill Cassidy attacks his Democratic opponent, Sen. Mary Landrieu, for not “fully funding veterans benefits,” even though he voted for the House version of a bipartisan budget bill that included those very same cuts.
Playing Politics With Immigration
Competing ads from the leading candidates in the Louisiana Senate race play politics with the immigration issue and leave misleading impressions about the candidates’ positions.
Tillis: Education Budget Backer or Hacker?
A North Carolina public school teacher says in a TV ad that she tells her students to “start with the facts,” but she begins attacking Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis with an exaggerated claim about Tillis’ education “cuts.”