McCain:

1. The statement: Obama “has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate.”
The reality: The National Journal reported Obama was in fact “the most liberal senator” of 2007. According to this same journal, he was sixteenth in 2005 and tenth in 2006.
The conclusion: Yes, but no.

2. The statement: Colombia is “our largest agricultural importer of our products.”
The reality: The Department of Agriculture stated that Canada is our number one importer. In 2007 $13.2 billion in agricultural products were shipped north. Colombia, however, should not be discounted. It was ranked 12, with $1.1 billion.
The conclusion: Too big to be counted as a slip-up.

3. The statement: “Senator Obama talks about voting for budgets. He voted twice for a budget resolution that increases the taxes on individuals making $42,000 a year…”
The reality: McCain was referring to the March 2008 budget resolution supported by Obama. Budget resolutions are for setting goals. They don’t increase –– or decrease, for that matter –– anything. That requires separate legislation.
The conclusion: When even Fox News disputes McCain’s claim, you know it’s in the wrong.

4. The statement: “Joe [Wurzelbacher, the plumber] wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10, 12 hours a day. And he wanted to buy the business but he looked at your tax plan and he saw that he was going to pay much higher taxes.”
The reality: Toledo, Ohio native Wurzelbacher hopes to buy a plumbing company “that makes 250 to 280 thousand dollars a year.” It’s true that according to Obama’s plan, small business making more than $250,000 would be higher under Obama’s plan than under McCain’s.
The conclusion: McCain was right, but Wurzelbacher is hardly the average working man. He makes $207,000 more than the average Toledo family, according to a 2007 Census Bureau report.

5. The statement: “Senator Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America through  : as he said, his object is a single payer system.”
The reality: According to Obama’s Web site, his proposed health care plan will choose from an approved plan, keep their existing coverage, or buy a public plan. However, McCain’s assessment  isn’t totally unfounded. According to the Wall Street Journal Aug. 19 edition, Obama said, “If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system…. my attitude is let’s build up the system we got….”
The conclusion: Accusation not only taken out of context, but false.

Obama:

1. The statement: “Oil companies would get an additional $4 billion in tax breaks” under McCain’s proposed tax plan.
The reality: In fact, McCain will cut the maximum rate of corporate taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent. Although this would save large oil companies about $3.8 billion per year, the plan would apply to all corporations, not just oil companies.
The conclusion: Minor misrepresentation.

2. The statement: Obama: 100 percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative.
McCain: It’s not true.
Obama: It absolutely is true.
The reality: This is almost true. For the week of Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. A study conducted at The Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin reported that “nearly” 100 percent of the McCain campaign’s advertisements were “negative” that week specifically. In no other week is this statement true.
The conclusion: Too much of a stretch to be treated as fact.

3. The statement: “The only involvement I’ve had with ACORN [Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now] is I represented them alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs.”
The reality: Not quite. He also worked closely with ACORN’s Chicago branch four other times. This includes the $800,000 Obama’s campaign paid during the primaries to the ACORN-affiliated Campaign Services Inc. for get-out-the-vote efforts.
The conclusion: Attempt at a side-step on Obama’s part.

4. The statement: “First of all, in terms of standing up to the leaders of my party, the first major bill that I voted on in the Senate was in support of tort reform, which wasn’t very popular with trial lawyers, a major constituency in the Democratic Party…. I’ve got a history of reaching across the aisle.”
The reality: The class-action lawsuit bill of 2005 was supported by 41 percent of Democrats. For Obama to claim he broke clean away from his party is not fair.
It should be noted that the Congressional Quarterly reported that in Obama’s three years in the Senate, he has voted to the left 97 percent of the time
The conclusion: Obama is no maverick.

5. The statement: “Now, under Senator McCain’s plan there is a strong risk that people would lose their employer-based health care.”
The reality: Several studies have indicated that there would be a net decline in the 159 million Americans with “employer-based health care” under McCain’s plan. The Lewin Group reports the number of Americans with employer-based health care will be 149.6 million in 2010, a decrease of 9.4 million.
The conclusion: With only a 5.9 percent decrease it is more of a chance than a “strong risk.”