Latest Stories By W. Gardner Selby

Ted Cruz closes a TV ad his campaign debuted today with conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh heard saying Cruz is the choice for president and "the closest in our lifetimes we have ever been to Ronald Reagan."

But don’t assume El Rushbo endorsed Cruz over everyone. Cruz’s commercial leaves out qualifying words from Limbaugh--and that Limbaugh quickly praised Marco Rubio... But there's also an earlier instance of Limbaugh linking Cruz and Reagan.

Ted Cruz’s Truth-O-Meter report card.

Marco Rubio’s Truth-O-Meter report card.

Rush Limbaugh’s Truth-O-Meter report card.

A Ted Cruz ad assailed by Donald Trump and defended by Cruz leaves out factual details--some old, others relatively new.

Key: Trump, once strongly "pro-choice," subsequently shifted his position on abortion rights.

George W. Bush, the president and former Texas governor who this week made a pitch for his brother, Jeb, in South Carolina, was president when the Truth-O-Meter debuted in 2007.

PolitiFact reporters focused on contenders to succeed him, though the second President Bush's administration often came up in fact checks of others. We look back...

Early voting in Texas launches Tuesday Feb. 16. Wondering where to vote?

See presidential campaign fact checks here.

Bernie Sanders says college tuition in the U.S. was once nothing as in nada as in zero.

Sure, senator, and the space program ran on Tang. Oh wait: PolitiFact Florida found Sanders’ claim MOSTLY TRUE.

Early voting in Texas launches Tuesday Feb. 16. Wondering where to vote?

LIKE the PolitiFact Texas project on our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

See Texas presidential hopeful Ted Cruz’s Truth-O-Meter report card.

In his first year, Austin Mayor Steve Adler kept about a third of 16 campaign promises we're tracking on the PolitiFact Texas Adler-O-Meter.

Adler also had a promise rated STALLED and three promises graded IN THE WORKS. Adler's one BROKEN promise was his unfulfilled idea to have the Austin City Council jointly visit council districts.

Want the latest on candidates for president including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz? Click here.

Readers questioned our fiery rating of a Ted Cruz claim that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas had cancelled all individual health insurance policies in Texas, effective Dec. 31.

Let's open the PolitiFact Texas mailbag.

Just before Iowa’s presidential caucuses, Ted Cruz’s campaign poked some Hawkeye State voters with mailers criticized as deceptive by the state’s chief elections official. Could it be too that Cruz concocted personal voting histories for Iowans (and their neighbors) who got the mailers?

Just before Iowa’s presidential caucuses, Ted Cruz’s campaign poked some Hawkeye State voters with mailers criticized as deceptive by the state’s chief elections official. Could it be too that Cruz concocted personal voting histories for Iowans (and their neighbors) who got the mailers?

Here's our detailed look -- including a professor's comparison of personal information in the mailers to 20 voter histories he checked in Iowa state records.

Believe it or not, Texas requires high schools to nudge eligible students to register to vote.

We learned as much checking an even more dramatic claim by Paul Saldaña, vice president of Austin's school board.

Skip to the fact check.

SEEKING PRESIDENTIAL FACT CHECKS? SEE THE LATEST HERE.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz--tangling again over immigration and, perhaps, who's politically pure--ran first and second in speaking time during the last Republican presidential debate a few days  before Iowa's crucial caucuses. (Donald Trump, who declined to attend, spoke elsewhere).

PolitiFact in Washington, D.C., is piling up debate fact checks here--starting with a MOSTLY FALSE for Cruz's claim Barack Obama has "degraded" the U.S. military and a MOSTLY FALSE for Cruz's statement he hasn't insulted Trump personally.

What did you hear that merits a check?
 

Never mind Ted Cruz’s factually flawed ad about New Yorker Donald Trump. Tonight Cruz likely takes center stage thanks to Trump saying he’s not going to join the Republican presidential debate put on by Fox News.

See PolitiFact’s debate coverage plans here. Meantime, we scanned PolitiFact states to see what candidates have lately misrepresented or gotten right.

A Ted Cruz TV ad portraying Donald Trump as embodying liberal New York values--including support for abortion rights--exploits Trump saying in Iowa last year: "How stupid are the people of Iowa?"

The ad lacks some perspective. Trump uttered his "stupid" question in November, 16 years after he described himself as pro-choice. Notably, too, Trump was urging Iowans to doubt the accuracy of personal stories told by candidate Ben Carson--not outright saying Iowans are stupid.