So, where do they really stand on the issues they addressed Tuesday?
When John McCain talks up his environmental creds, keep in mind, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters say the Arizona Senator has an abysmal voting record on the environment. And when it comes to money, Barack Obama says the system is broken. However, our fact check shows he's playing that broken system to his own advantage.
At Fresno State Monday, John McCain once again said Barack Obama doesn't support nuclear power. McCain said the same last week in Houston saying Obama "doesn't support new nuclear plants."
FactCheck: That's misleading. Obama's energy policy detailed on his website states: "nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our non-carbon generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power from the table."
And on Tuesday, he added that he wants to put money into researching safer ways to store and recycle nuclear materials.
"If we can figure that out effectively, then nuclear has some big advantages," says Obama.
But determining what is safe in the storage and recycling of nuclear material is a matter of considerable debate, and Obama's energy policy doesn't touch that radioactive detail of the debate. On the cost of gas, John McCain has been blaming government red tape for contributing to high prices.
"There is so much regulation of the industry that the last American refinery was built when Jerry Ford was President of the United States."
FactCheck: That's misleading. Regulation is not the only factor standing in the way of new refineries. Companies have found it more cost effective to expand current refineries rather than build new ones. It would take a new refinery 13 years of operation to turn a profit according to an analysis done by our partners at factcheck.org.
In factchecking Barack Obama, we've turned from energy to the fuel of politics: money. Barack Obama has announced he's breaking from his pledge to accept public financing and the spending limits that come with that.
"We face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system. John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs," says Obama.
FactCheck: That's misleading. McCain's campaign and the RNC have received less than 2 percent of their contributions from lobbyists and political action committees. Obama is opting out of the public financing system for his own reasons. One of which is certainly that he can raise a lot more than the $80 million that he's received from public financing.
He's already raised $265 million, two and half times more than McCain.
Below, you can find more factchecking studies from our partners at factcheck.org:
Fact Check link:McCain's Power Outage
Fact Check link: Obama's Lame Claim About McCain's Money
For more Fact Checks, visit our Politics page and click on the Fact Check tab.
And for some interesting political widgets that are tracking the presidential campaign, visit the links below:
Widget: Candidates' MySpace friends
Widget: Candidates' YouTube videos
Widget: Presidential fundraising
