Latest Stories By Willoughby Mariano

The performance of Georgia's own Herman Cain during last night’s Republican presidential debate is sending political opinionators buzzing.

After the debate, Fox News aired discussion between veteran political consultant and pollster Frank Luntz and a focus group.

Members said that before last night, they didn’t know much about Cain. Afterwards, most of them loved him.

Luntz was bowled over.

"Something very special happened this evening," he concluded. 

Things got hot at PolitiFact Georgia, thanks to Josef Stalin, an aging stripper and a Cobb County school board member.

Some days, there was nary a whiff of burning pants in the newsroom air. Atlanta Police Chief George Turner and U.S. Rep. Tom Graves earned Trues on crime statistics and taxes, respectively.

It all changed when U.S. Rep. Paul Broun cranked up the heat with a False claim about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Stalin. A Cobb County school board member made a weak claim about the school calendar.   

Democrats earned a Pants on Fire for an ad that claimed seniors might have to find work mowing lawns or running lemonade stands to pay for Medicare because of Republicans. In one scenario, an elderly man resorted to stripping. Hot!

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Thanks to recent battles over federal spending, the Truth-O-Meter hit a jackpot of claims that need checking.

U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Mark Warner of Virginia barnstormed the Atlanta area Monday to drum up support for reducing the national debt, so PolitiFact Georgia went for broke. We greeted them with rapid-fire fact checks.

The budget hawks were mostly on the money. Warner won a True on Social Security data. Chambliss scored a Mostly True on debt growth figures and a Half True on how tax cuts impact tax revenue.

MoveOn.org and U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Athens shortchanged us on the facts. Both earned False rulings on the budget debate.

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PolitiFact Georgia had a week of extremes.  

The Truth-O-Meter dished out one Mostly True and a True to the head of a conservation group on water issues and prospective GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on prisons. The Deal-O-Meter ruled Gov. Nathan Deal was making progress on a promise he made about the Race to the Top education program.

Then the Truth-O-Meter lit Georgia presidential prospect Herman Cain’s Pants on Fire. He claimed Planned Parenthood was started to kill black babies before they were born.

The Obameter gave a "Promise Broken" to President Barack Obama’s on foreclosure prevention.

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Between the national debt, the nuclear crisis in Japan, labor unrest and U.S. intervention in Libya, current events give us plenty of reasons to lose sleep.

Rest assured. Like the trustiest of night lights, the Truth-O-Meter is here to comfort you. Last week, it sussed out the truth on statements about all those subjects.

And if you’re losing sleep over lost sleep -- well, knock it off. The Truth-O-Meter found that lost sleep can be hazardous to your health.

Want to comment on our findings? Go to our Facebook page and hit the "like" button to join the discussion. You can also follow us on Twitter.

By Willoughby Mariano

PolitiFact Georgia cares about your health.

Our proof is this week’s Truth-O-Meter rulings, which covered a promise by Gov. Nathan Deal on health insurance, federal funding for reproductive health services and a statement conservative pundit Ann Coulter made on whether radiation can be good for you.   

Thinking about sticking your head into the nearest X-ray machine?  Read our roundup first.

And for variety’s sake, read our items about rising gas prices and whether the HOPE scholarship helped improve Georgia’s public universities, too.

Want to comment on our findings? Just go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia) and hit the "like" button to join in the discussion. You can also follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga). You can find the entire fact-checks at our PolitiFact Georgia online site.

From Sunday booze to overpriced oil, from streetcars to schools, PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter covered it all last week.

Were you curious whether loosening restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales would lead to more drunken driving? Did Gov. Nathan Deal’s changes to the popular HOPE scholarship make Georgia stingy on education?  Is President Barack Obama doing enough to keep oil prices down?

Is there anything the Truth-O-Meter can’t do?

Want to comment on our findings? Just go to our Facebook page and hit the "like" button to join in the discussion. You can also follow us on Twitter.

Last week, PolitiFact Georgia did its fair share of cluck-clucking.

Claims about a proposed immigration measure, a reading of the U.S. Constitution by the backer of a "birther" bill and a take on federal law about the U.S. Supreme Court all ruffled the Truth-O-Meter’s feathers.

We also updated the progress Gov. Nathan Deal made on his promise to end the Ga. 400 tolls and discerned whether a candidate for Gwinnett County chairman was a faux chicken farmer -- the accuser laid an egg on that one.  

Have something to say about our rulings? Squawk away on our Facebook page or tweet our successes or failings on Twitter.

Move over, Elmo. After last week’s outbreak of truthiness, no one can be more tickled than PolitiFact Georgia.

Partisans were on target about subjects as disparate as county budget cuts and "Sesame Street," which launched the career of the Muppet that inspired the Tickle Me Elmo doll. They even fared well on the contentious issues of illegal immigration and abortion. The sole exception was President Barack Obama on Social Security checks.

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The Truth-O-Meter spent last week searching for holes in politicians’ statements. And boy, did we find some cheesy ones.

In fact, we found one about Swiss cheese from U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland. It paired nicely with a Mostly True statement about alcohol that we ran the following day. It was a PolitiFact Georgia version of a cocktail party.

The festivities were brief. We marched on to cover statements on immigration and federal fiances. One from President Barack Obama stank like a slab of Limburger cheese.

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Trust PolitiFact Georgia to burrow for the darkest and fuzziest of truths.

Last week, we tested a DeKalb County congressman on the economy, an Athens congressman on one of his tweets, boosterish claims about Atlanta tourism, and whether Egypt’s ambassador has his facts straight.

Most importantly, we uncovered that metro Atlanta’s groundhog General Beauregard Lee, long overshadowed by the more famous Punxsutawney Phil, is better at predicting the weather. Scandalous.

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Georgia’s political engine is revved up for this year’s legislative session, and the Truth-O-Meter and Deal-O-Meter are, too.

Last week’s focus was on state issues -- ethics laws, health insurance and a major overhaul of the tax system.

There was good and bad news. New Gov. Nathan Deal made headway on two campaign promises. Others’ claims on taxes and ethics lacked truthiness. 

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