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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

DSCC Not Fighting Fair

In Connecticut’s Senate race, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is sponsoring a misleading ad that attacks Republican candidate Linda McMahon.
It says McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, "laid off workers, yet took millions in bonuses," and "spent thousands on lobbyists to get millions in tax breaks for herself." McMahon did earn "millions in bonuses." She got a total of $2.4 million spread over several years. But in only one of those years were any workers laid off.

Super PAC for America

Conservative group formed by political strategist and TV commentator Dick Morris.

Another Black Hole

A secretive, Republican-leaning group has spent an estimated $3 million on a TV ad making the false claim that government spending is "not creating jobs."

The ad first appeared Sept. 7 and was still running nearly a month later. The ad shows a man in a business suit digging an ever-deeper hole — a visual metaphor for the nation’s ever-expanding debt. It could also be a metaphor for Public Notice, the sponsor of the ad and yet another group whose finances are also something of a black hole.

Pataki’s Bogus Health Care Claims

A conservative group led by former New York Gov. George Pataki has launched two nearly identical ads criticizing Democratic Reps. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire and John Hall of New York for voting for the new health care law. Pataki said …

Tea Party Express

Conservative group that supports the tea party movement; founded by Republican strategist Sal Russo.

Murkowski vs. Tea Party, Round 2

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the Tea Party Express are at it again.
Murkowski, who is running for reelection as a write-in candidate after losing the GOP nomination to a tea party-backed candidate, has asked Alaska TV stations not to air a Tea Party Express ad that she calls "false, misleading and deceptive." We largely agree with that description.
The ad falsely accuses Murkowski of trying to "influence the absentee vote count" after narrowly losing the primary.

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Sept. 28-Oct. 4

This week, readers sent us comments about small business taxes, revisionist history and the Congressional Budget Office.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.

Sunday Replay

Sunday morning’s talkathons featured a few misstatements in a debate between Kentucky’s Senate contenders, and some confusion about debts and deficits.   
 Kentucky Senate Candidates Debate
"Fox News Sunday" hosted a debate between Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul, a Republican, and his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway. 
Paul’s statements about the economic and citizenship status of the country’s uninsured population were false:

Paul: Well, there are two aspects to health care problems. One’s the expense and one’s access.

Dust-Up in Coal Country

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is under fire from his Republican opponent, John Raese, for supposedly undermining the coal industry. Raese’s ad is misleading, though. Even the coal producers disagree with it.
The two are competing to fill the last two years of the late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd’s term.

Raese says that Manchin "passed a law that eliminates 25 percent of coal usage in our power plants." But that’s not true. The Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Act,