Politics: A Spat Over Secrecy | Newsweek Scope

FACTCHECK.ORG
'Unethical?'
Emi Kolawole 10/27/2008 12:00:00 AM
The ad claims that Obama supporter and Chicago real estate developer Allison Davis received $20 million in taxpayer money. That's false. Davis didn't get this money. Instead, the federal grant went to the Chicago Housing Authority, replacing money it had already put forward for a mixed-income housing project on which Davis was a developer. The grant didn't go to Davis, nor did it help him pocket any additional funds.
CAMPAIGN 2008
The Return Of Rezko
Michael Isikoff 10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
The McCain campaign, frustrated over their inability to dent Barack Obama over his ties to radical Bill Ayers, is ramping up attacks on the Democratic presidential candidate's connections to convicted developer and political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko. A new video, just released by the Republican National Committee this week, revives charges about a relationship that first came up last spring during the Democratic primaries. The McCain campaign has also begun "robo" calls and direct mailings and is preparing TV ads on Rezko that will "likely" run next week, said a campaign official who asked not to be identified. The calls and mailings will focus in part on a controversial 2005 house purchase by Obama that was made the same day Rezko, a longtime fundraiser for the Illinois senator, bought the vacant lot next door. Critics have alleged that Rezko's purchase helped Obama to buy his south Chicago house—a charge that Obama has strongly denied even while acknowledging that one of his later dealings with Rezko over the house showed "a lapse in judgement."
FACTCHECK.ORG
Guilt and Associations
Viveca Novak 9/23/2008 12:00:00 AM
SummaryA McCain-Palin ad says that Obama was "born of the corrupt Chicago political machine" and implies that the candidate himself is corrupt by association with four local political figures. But the ad's implication and many of its supporting details are false. In fact, this is a particularly egregious example of ricochet sliming:
Let the Leg-Biting Begin
Howard Fineman 2/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
In the Democratic presidential race this is "Ickes Time"—as in Harold Ickes.
FACTCHECK.ORG
A Clinton-Obama Slugfest
Viveca Novak 1/23/2008 12:00:00 AM
SummaryIn one of the liveliest debates of the 2008 presidential campaign, the three top Democrats slugged it out in Myrtle Beach, S.C. We noted some low blows:
POLITICS
The Incremental Revolutionary
Richard Wolffe
It may not be easy to tell now, but Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have a lot in common. One example: they're both strongly pro-choice. Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Rights Action League have awarded each of them perfect 100 percent scores for opposing abortion restrictions. So Democrats in New Hampshire might have been a bit surprised when Clinton began criticizing Obama for not being pro-choice enough. "A woman's right to choose demands a leader who will stand up and protect it," read a mailing sent out to Democrats in the state on the eve of last week's primary.