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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Not Enough Delegates?

Q: What happens if neither Clinton nor Obama wins enough delegates to secure the nomination?
A: A brokered convention would result in the very unlikely event that neither sews up the nomination beforehand. We have no idea what would happen then.

Counting Obama’s and Clinton’s Delegates

Q: Which is the correct delegate count for Obama and Clinton?

A: There’s no official count. Different news organizations and Web sites come up with slightly different estimates because the job is complex and involves a bit of guesswork.

Misleading Pennsylvania Voters

Summary

Clinton and Obama twisted facts unmercifully as they strained to make Pennsylvania voters believe the other is offering a flawed health care plan.

An anti-Obama ad by a pro-Clinton group says her plan would "help every American" and implies his would not. In fact, Obama proposes to offer subsidized coverage, just as Clinton does.
An Obama TV ad claimed his plan would save families more money than Clinton’s, but one independent expert sees "zero credible evidence"

More Speaking Time: Obama or Clinton?

Q: Who gets more time during debates, Obama or Clinton?
A: Obama spoke longer in their two February debates, but Clinton had more time in their January meeting.

Oily Words

Summary

Clinton and Obama are slamming each other and the oil companies in dueling radio ads in Pennsylvania. Both ads exaggerate and twist the facts. Both ads say, in effect, that the opposing candidate is reluctant to offend oil companies due to campaign donations. The truth is they both propose energy plans that are similar, and which the oil giants won’t like. 

Obama’s ad claims, "Clinton’s taken more from big oil and other PACs and lobbyists than any other candidate,

Substance Abuse

A misleading e-mail has been making the rounds, alleging that Clinton has fewer legislative accomplishments than Obama, and that they are less substantive. We’ve had questions about it from a number of readers, and blogs have jumped into the fray. So what’s the real story on the Senate careers of the Democratic presidential candidates? We find that the e-mail is false in almost every particular

Richardson’s Job Boast

Summary

Democratic presidential contender Bill Richardson boasts of creating 80,000 jobs since becoming governor of New Mexico. Not yet, he hasn’t. The state has gained fewer than 76,000 payroll jobs since he took office, and official figures showed a mere 68,100 gain when he first started making his inflated boast last year. He bases his claim on a definition of “jobs” that includes unpaid workers in family businesses and freelancers who don’t draw a paycheck.

What is a Civil Union?

Summary

When politicians say they support civil unions but not marriage for people of the same sex, what do they mean? We find three main differences between civil unions and marriage as it’s traditionally viewed:

The right to federal benefits. States that allow some type of same-sex union are able to grant only state rights. The Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 prohibits same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage rights and benefits.
Portability.

AFL-CIO Democratic Forum

Summary

Seven Democratic presidential candidates appeared Aug. 7 in a nationally televised forum at Chicago’s Soldier Field, sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Once again, we found some claims that were wrong and others that were questionable.

Sen. Joseph Biden said none of the others "has a better labor record than me." Actually, they all have better AFL-CIO "lifetime" ratings than Biden.
Sen. Barack Obama attempted to revise his own earlier remarks about invading Pakistan, claiming: "I did not say that we would immediately go in unilaterally.