On this day in 1890, reporter Nellie Bly greeted a crowd in New York 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds after setting sail east to circle the globe.
Source: Library of Congress
January 24, 2010
On this day in 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold near Coloma, California. The discovery was officially endorsed by President James Polk in December that year, launching the Gold Rush.
Source: Library of Congress
January 23, 2010
The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the collection of poll taxes in national elections, was ratified on this day in 1964.
Source: Library of Congress
Pork Radio
Former GOP presidential nominee John McCain is running attack ads again — this time against a fellow Republican who may contest his Senate seat this year.
Hotline’s Reid Wilson has the script for a new radio spot McCain is running against former congressman (and current Arizona radio personality) J.D Hayworth, who has been making moves toward a primary challenge against McCain.
The ad says that Hayworth "sounds conservative on the radio, but J.D. was one of the biggest spenders in Congress.
Enforcing the Individual Mandate
Q: How does health care legislation propose to enforce the individual mandate?
A: The Internal Revenue Service would verify whether individuals meet the requirement to have health insurance, and collect a tax if they don’t.
January 22, 2010
On this day in 1912, Key West, Florida, became linked to the Florida peninsula by the Florida East Coast Railway; the overseas railway was destroyed by a hurricane 23 years later.
Source: Library of Congress
Court’s Decision: Keep FactCheck Busy
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today that corporations can spend as freely as they like in federal elections, a decision that could bring a flood of new ads expressly favoring or opposing candidates in the congressional midterm elections this year.
The opinion in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission throws out a 63-year-old law that attempted to restrain the influence of business and labor in elections and overturns two of the Court’s own decisions.
January 21, 2010
There were between an estimated 39 million and 80 million cases of H1N1 from April through Dec. 12, 2009, and about 7,880 to 16,460 H1N1-related deaths.
Source: CDC
Axelrod Wrong on Health Care Ads Claim
White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod incorrectly claimed that Republican Scott Brown “didn’t run one ad on health care in the entire campaign” against Democrat Martha Coakley. In fact, a Brown campaign TV spot attacking health care legislation ran heavily in the days before Tuesday’s Senate election in Massachusetts.
Axelrod, in an appearance alongside White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” on Wednesday, was trying to play down the role of the health care issue in Brown’s upset victory.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Jan. 12-Jan. 18
This week, readers sent us comments on a FactCheck curriculum, the Massachusetts race and global cooling. 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.