Fact Checkers to the Rescue

FactCheck.org has received significant press coverage over the last two weeks. The site, which is funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, aims to sift through political advertisements, analyzing the accuracy of their claims. The site has proven to be so reliable that Senator John Kerry's homepage has it linked; even Vice President Dick Cheney advised viewers of the 2004 Vice Presidential debates to check up on his own relations with Halliburton via the site (which he misidentified as factcheck.com, the site of one of the most notable democratic philantrhopists active in this election, George Soros). FactCheck.org has quickly become one of the most reliable media sources, when it comes to checking the validity of political advertisements.

Presidential Camaigns and 527s Pick Up the Pace

In the upcoming months, one can be assured that both President Bush's campaign and Senator Kerry's campaign, along with big-budget 527s, will be increasing both the production and the prevelence of political TV ads. As the November election draws closer, the presidential campaings and 527s are narrowing their focus on swing-states such as Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvannia. While their vote may be worth more than others,The Campaign Desk, the Columbia Journalism Review's analysis of 2004 campaign coverage, proves that swing-state citizens are in fact in need of your pity. In her article, "It Could Be Worse - You Could Live in a State Where Your Vote Mattered," Susan Stranahan highlights the fact that "over 530,000 campaign ads have aired on TV thus far in the 2004 election." The numbers are predicted to increase rapidly over the course of the pre-election months; the vast majority of ads produced are being created for local news stations in cities like Columbus and Philadalphia. While citizens of swing-states are guaranteed to get their fill of misleading statistics and exaggerated claims, inevitably, they will also become increasingly familiar with the issues that the presidential candidates and the 527s that support them will be talking about.