With the midterm elections now just days away, many campaigns and outside groups are making their final appeals. And, as has been the case all election season, some of the claims miss the mark.
Final Week Spin
Person: Mark Begich
FactChecking the Alaska Senate Race
Sen. Mark Begich has portrayed his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, as soft on sex offenders and tough on women’s rights. Sullivan has accused the Democrat of hurting taxpayers and ignoring veterans. Both candidates and their allies have twisted the facts.
Begich’s Bogus Tax Boast
Sen. Mark Begich makes the bogus claim in two ads that he “voted against President Obama’s trillion-dollar tax increase.” He voted against a GOP resolution that set forth Obama’s spending levels for fiscal year 2013 but without the president’s policy language.
Alaska’s Pension Fight
The Alaska Senate candidates exaggerate the impact of a $500 million settlement that Republican Dan Sullivan reached as state attorney general in 2010.
The Rest of Alaska’s Crime Story
A controversial TV ad from Sen. Mark Begich accuses his opponent, former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan, of letting “a lot of sex offenders get off with light sentences” — specifically one ex-con who prosecutors say killed an elderly couple and raped their infant granddaughter in 2013.
Twisting Begich’s Response to VA Scandal
Crossroads GPS misuses a quote from Sen. Mark Begich and conflates two separate management problems at the Veterans Administration to insinuate in a TV ad that Begich doesn’t take the current VA scandal seriously.
‘Outright Lies’ in Alaska?
In the Alaska Senate race, a radio ad from GOP frontrunner Dan Sullivan complains of “outright lies” in a TV ad from a super PAC supporting Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. The pro-Begich ad complains about the Koch brothers supporting Sullivan’s campaign.
Keeping Your Health Plan
For years, President Obama promised millions of Americans with health insurance that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” under his health care overhaul. He wasn’t the only one, either.