'Dump Dennis?'An ad targeting Rep. Kucinich has some dubious claims.

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http://www.newsweek.com/id/117865

http://www.factcheck.org/


By Justin Bank | factcheck.org
Mar 1, 2008 | Updated: 12:12 p.m. ET Mar 1, 2008

Former Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is now fighting to hold onto his House seat in Cleveland, Ohio. He's the target of a tough attack ad that says he "gives a lot of speeches" but "doesn't get much done." But the ad is a textbook example of deceptive political advertising – it uses dramatic-sounding numbers that, put into context, aren't such a big deal after all:

The ad, by challenger Joe Cimperman, says that under Kucinich's watch, "we've lost 38,000 jobs." That's the decline in employment figures for an Ohio county, part of which Kucinich serves. But we're sure that one congressman doesn't bear the sole responsibility for such job losses.

The ad says Kucinich "passed only one bill" in Congress, a claim based on the fact that he was the lead sponsor on only one bill that was signed into law. But such a statistic is an inadequate measure of a lawmaker's effectiveness. A legislative tracking site found his record on legislation to be in line with those of other House members.

It says Kucinich "brings home less money, 33% percent less." But less than what? And what is the money for? The ad doesn't say, but the Cimperman campaign is using a selective measurement...