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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Obama’s Gun Ban?

Q: Did Obama promise last year to ban all semi-automatic guns during his first year as president?
A: A widely circulated e-mail quoting Obama is baseless and almost certainly fabricated. He does support reinstatement of the expired "assault weapons ban" but isn’t calling for a wider ban on all semi-automatic weapons. He said repeatedly during the campaign, "I am not going to take your guns away."

GOP YouTube Debate Flubs

The CNN/YouTube debate among Republicans lacked any talking snowmen, but we did note a few false and misleading statements by the candidates.

Huckabee’s Fiscal Record

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been hit with criticism over his record on taxes as governor of Arkansas. In recent interviews on Fox News, Huckabee responded to some of these questions, but we found him to be misleading and incorrect on several points:

Edwards’ Empty Threat

John Edwards’ new ad says that when he’s in the Oval Office, he’ll tell Congress to act within six months to make sure all Americans have health insurance or “I’m going to use my power as president to take your health care away from you.” First he’s going to have to throw out the Constitution, though.

Tough Guy on Immigration?

Mitt Romney casts himself as tough on illegal immigration in a new ad in which he says that, as Massachusetts governor, “I authorized the State Police to enforce immigration laws.” He doesn’t mention that his order never took effect.

Hillary’s High-Stepping

At a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Sen. Hillary Clinton ducked some questions and gave misleading answers to others.

A Bogus Cancer Statistic

In a new radio ad, Rudy Giuliani falsely claims that under England’s “socialized medicine” system only 44 percent of men with prostate cancer survive.

Florida Fandango

Tongues were sharpened before Sunday night’s GOP presidential debate in Orlando, with the candidates drawing blood right out of the gate. We found them factually challenged in several areas:

Fred’s Facts Check Out; Rudy’s Don’t

Former Sen. Fred Thompson got the facts straight for his GOP debate debut Oct. 9. But former Mayor Rudy Giuliani added to a lengthening string of exaggerations and misstatements: