Latest Stories By Willoughby Mariano

President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney wrapped up the presidential debate season Monday with a showdown in Florida. The topic: foreign policy.

PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia are checking statements made by the challengers, who have less than two weeks until Election Day.

We will be updating our online site -- www.politifact.com/georgia/ -- throughout the day as more fact checks are completed. Readers can comment on our Truth-O-Meter rulings at: www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia?fref=ts. They can follow us on Twitter at PolitiFactGA.

 

The speeches keep coming and our Truth-O-Meter keeps rolling.

The Republican National Convention in Tampa scheduled hours of back-to-back speeches pounding President Barack Obama on what they say is his inability to bring about change we can believe in.

Who can get the job done? We’ll let you guess the GOP’s answer. And here’s a hint: The theme of Wednesday's session was "We Can Change It."

GOP luminaries focused on fiscal responsibility and the economy, which was good news for PolitiFact. Those are two of our favorite subjects. And speaking of the economy, we added a fact-check of a top Obama campaign official who made a claim about Mitt Romney’s position on a popular tax policy.

Read these summaries of our latest checks below.

Want to comment? Go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia) or find us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga).

And check our Facebook page throughout the day. We update it with new convention fact checks morning and night.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney took center stage Tuesday on PolitiFact and the Truth-O-Meter as Republicans geared up to nominate him at their Tampa convention.

First, we tested a talking point GOP leaders are using to cast Mitt Romney as a self-made man: That Romney "gave away his father's inheritance." We also checked Romney’s critique of the economy and its effects on young people.

The economy is perhaps the Obama campaign’s biggest hurdle, and Democrats know it. One of his top campaign aides tried to defend him by saying that the recovery during President Barack Obama’s term is stronger than President Ronald Reagan’s. Wrong.

We also checked an attack on Obama by Romney’s vice presidential pick U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan about declining household incomes. He was wrong, too.

Read these summaries of our findings below.

Want to comment on our rulings? Go to our Facebook page, or find us on Twitter.

And watch for us during the conventions. We’re providing daily Truth-O-Meter updates for this week’s Republican convention in Tampa and next week’s Democratic convention in Charlotte.

Hurricane Isaac may have shut down the Republican National Convention on Monday. But the Truth-O-Meter was unstoppable.

PolitiFact arrived in Tampa just as former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist made a surprise endorsement of President Barack Obama in The Tampa Bay Times. He served as governor as a Republican, then ran an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate as an independent.

We completed two fact-checks that touched on Crist’s endorsement.

Medicare remained a chief concern as the festivities began. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney accused Obama of hypocrisy, while his vice presidential pick, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, said the Romney-Ryan plan "does not affect" benefits for anyone 55 or older.

Read these summaries of our findings below.

Want to comment on our rulings? Go to our Facebook page or find us on Twitter.

PolitiFact will provide daily Truth-O-Meter updates on the GOP before moving on to Charlotte next week to keep tabs on the Democrats.

As the referendum on a tax to fund transportation projects for metro Atlanta nears, our fact check tally rises. 

Your PolitiFact Georgia scribes have completed nearly two dozen fact checks on Tuesday's referendum, which has made bedfellows out of earstwhile enemies.  The Sierra Club has joined forces with members of Georgia's Tea Party to oppose the measure, while Chamber of Commerce-types have allied with sustainability advocates to rally for it.

Want to comment on our findings? It's easy. Just go to our Facebook page and hit the "like" button. And you are free to express yourself, pro or con.

Those for and against the one-percent tax increase say that the facts and figures are on their side. Sometimes they are. Other times they aren’t.

We'll tell you who's right in this roundup of our rulings.

And check back soon. We'll post more as we write new stories.

Here’s how both sides have fared so far:

The road to Tuesday’s monumental transportation tax vote is paved with truths, rumors and innuendoes.

Leave it to the Truth-O-Meter to inspect every bump and crack in the pavement. Since spring, PolitiFact published nearly two dozen stories checking statements about the 10-year, 1 percent sales tax, otherwise known as T-SPLOST. It could raise $8.5 billion over 10 years, after inflation.

Want to comment on our transportation tax rulings? Just go to our Facebook page or find us on Twitter.

Both sides got it wrong some of the time. Statements by supporters and opponents often fell short of True.

And once Election Day is over, we expect the rhetoric to continue. Metro Atlantans love to gripe about traffic.

Bring it on. We could go for miles and miles.

Read these summaries of our transportation tax rulings below.

(Want to comment? Go on, mouth off on our Facebook page.)

Conservatives are trying to paint liberal comedian Bill Maher as the same kind of public relations hazard for Democrats that Rush Limbaugh has become for Republicans.

Limbaugh ignited a firestorm when he called a Georgetown law student a "slut" and "prostitute" after she testified in Congress about health insurance and birth control. (To see her complete comments, read "In Context:
In Context: Sandra Fluke on contraceptives and women's health.")

Essentially, Limbaugh used misogynistic terms to attack a woman whose political view he opposes.

Conservatives point out that at least one politician's daughter has not been off-limits to Maher.

How similar are Maher’s and Limbaugh’s comments? We thought this would be a good subject for PolitiFact’s "In Context" series, where we publish controversial statements in their original context.
 

Still recovering from daylight saving time? Brace yourself. PolitiFact Georgia research shows that the time change may be hazardous to your health.

It's Super Tuesday, and Georgians are heading to the polls. Here’s PolitiFact’s guide to the multimillion-dollar ad blitz.

With the field down to four Republican contenders, campaigns and super PACs are attacking their opponents with hot-button allegations about supporting Planned Parenthood, Obamacare and even Nancy Pelosi that are designed to strike fear in the hearts of Republican voters.

There's been some piling on. We've seen several examples where two (or more) candidates have made the same attack.

The one candidate who hasn't been attacked much: Ron Paul. He's has been busy attacking others — but we didn’t find ads attacking him. (If you see one, send it our way!)

Want to comment on our findings? Hit the "like" button on our Facebook page to post your thoughts.

You can also follow us on Twitter.

GOP presidential candidates stormed Georgia and the airwaves Sunday, buffeting voters with one more powerful gust of rhetoric during the final weekend before Super Tuesday

Although the appearances were new, the talking points were largely the same. We’ve checked a few of them before.

Here’s a look at statements from the three leading candidates: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. 

Want to comment? Go to our Facebook page. You can also try us on Twitter.

The GOP presidential primary campaign may still be in mid-season, but at least one campaign TV ad is already in reruns.

Restore our Future, a pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, is slated to air a commercial in Georgia beginning Thursday that, save for a few visuals, is identical to one that ran during the former Massachusetts governor’s failed 2008 presidential campaign.  

It’s also similar to a viral Internet story that PolitiFact National checked Jan. 30.

Both television ads feature former business partner Robert Gay crediting Romney with helping reunite Gay with his daughter after she went missing.

"Mitt’s done a lot of things that people say are nearly impossible," Gay says in both ads. "But for me, the most important thing he’s ever done is to help save my daughter."

Did Mitt "help save" Gay’s daughter?

You’ve heard the bashing. Now see the commercial.

On Wednesday, Pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future was slated to unveil ads in Georgia arguing that rival Newt Gingrich is too risky a pick for GOP presidential nominee.  Primary day is March 6.

We’ve seen it, and it has all the hallmarks of your typical attack ad. Unflattering images, menacing music, and dire claims.

Claims that PolitiFact National and other fact-checking outlets happen to have vetted.