POLITICO's analysis of where the Democratic field stretched the truth, steered around some inconvenient facts, or just plain got it wrong.



Hillary's bold new education plan? Not so bold

Hillary Clinton said during tonight’s presidential debate that her college compact plan "would move a lot of Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expenses." Which isn't quite the bold plan it seems: Pell Grants can already be used to pay for expenses such as room and board, according to the Education Department. It also can be used for other expenses like books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses. And students with children can also use it for dependent care.

— Kimberly Hefling



Yes, O'Malley balanced the budget. But he didn't have a choice.

Martin O’Malley tried to distinguish himself from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders by saying, “Unlike either of these two fine people, I’ve actually balanced a budget every single year.” He’s not wrong—but he also didn’t have a choice. Under Maryland law, the governor is legally required to submit a balanced budget proposal each year and the legislature is required to pass a balanced budget as well.

— Danny Vinik



Clinton’s own source undermines her Wall Street donors claim

Trying to downplay her Wall Street ties, Clinton said about 3 percent of her donations come from “people in the finance and investment world,” and invited viewers to check opensecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics’ website.

We did, and it shows that her campaign and the super PAC supporting her received $5.7 million from the securities and investments industry, out of $97.8 million total. That’s almost 6 percent. It’s closer to 3 percent if you only count fundraising by her official campaign. But in the context of a clash with Sanders, who pointed out he doesn’t have an allied super PAC, it’s misleading to overlook hers.

— Isaac Arnsdorf



Did Bernie really support overthrowing Qaddafi?

"With all due respect, senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. you joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Qaddafi," said Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders. His campaign quickly fired back with a link to the nonbinding resolution he voted for, which asked the dictator to "desist from further violence, recognize the Libyan people’s demand for democratic change, [and] resign his position." Which would have been a form of regime change, but not the removal-by-force that Clinton implied.



Hillary's mystery ISIL videos

Hillary Clinton claimed that Donald Trump “is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.” A lot of people have argued that Trump’s rhetoric has aided ISIL, from terror experts to Whoopi Goldberg. But as far as we and other outlets can tell, there’s no evidence that radical jihadists are actually showing videos of Trump as a recruitment tool. We’ve asked the Clinton campaign for any evidence they have of this and will report back what they say.

— Danny Vinik



O'Malley, the "first post-9/11 mayor." Hm.

Martin O’Malley called himself the “first post-9/11 mayor and first post-9/11 governor.” We don’t know what that means. But O’Malley was mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007 (during which the Sept. 11 attacks occurred) and governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, well after they occurred. If O’Malley meant he was the first person to win a mayoral election after 1999, well, he was already mayor. If he meant he was the first to win a gubernatorial election after 9/11, he didn’t win until six years later; a number of new governors took office as early as 2002.

— Danny Vinik



Martin O'Malley, we didn't topple Assad

Referring to America's troubles in the Middle East, Martin O'Malley referred to Syria and Iraq as countries "where we've involved ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next." That's is certainly true in Iraq, where the fall of Saddam Hussein led to widespread instability, but quite the opposite in Syria, where President Barack Obama administration's low-level intervention in the civil war has left dictator Bashar al-Assad in power.

— Stephen Heuser

