PolitiFact.com
Statements about States
Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Half-True

It did fall that far, but Romney doesn't get all the credit

As governor of Massachusetts, "Romney reduced unemployment to just 4.7 percent."

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Half-True

A stretch to blame Romney for decades-long manufacturing decline

"When Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts lost 40,000 manufacturing jobs, a rate twice the national average."

Eric Fehrnstrom

Eric Fehrnstrom

Half-True

Numbers right, but Romney's role was limited

Massachusetts under Gov. Mitt Romney initially ranked last among states in job growth, but by the end of his governorship, "we were in the middle of the pack."

David Axelrod

David Axelrod

Half-True

Right on stats, but bigger forces beyond Romney

Under Gov. Mitt Romney, Massachusetts ranked "47th in job creation."

Ron Paul

Ron Paul

False

Cut in half, then subtract

"Just on Jan. 1 of this year, there were 40,000 new laws put on the books in one day."

Lisa Tomasso

Lisa Tomasso

True

The scrap metal state?

"Rhode Island’s exports have increased by 53 percent in the last two years."

BettyLou DeCroce

BettyLou DeCroce

Half-True

2 of 9 lost jobs

"While the country’s economy was battered, nine states with no income tax actually grew jobs from 2001 to 2010."

Morgan Griffith

Morgan Griffith

False

Virginia was first by a spell

"On most things except witch trials, Virginia will always have been first."

Doreen Costa

Doreen Costa

True

A documented fact.

"This is the only state in the country that bypassed the General Assembly to authorize [in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants]."

Donald Verrilli

Donald Verrilli

Mostly True

A fair characterization

Says when New Jersey adopted guaranteed coverage and cost provisions without a mandate individual health insurance market rates "doubled or tripled" and enrollment dropped from 180,000 people to 80,000 people.

Robert Jacquard

Robert Jacquard

True

Not a sure thing

"There are a lot of casinos across the country that have gone bankrupt."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Half-True

Hard to say if $1 billion is all fraud

PIP fraud is "$1 billion in fraud."

Glenford Shibley

Glenford Shibley

Mostly True

Not quite a bull's-eye.

"Rhode Island is the only state where officers at state-supported [colleges] carry out their duties unarmed."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Mostly True

Depends on the individual, though

"In some communities, for $10,000 worth of (PIP) coverage it’s $1,500 a year."

Sheldon Whitehouse

Sheldon Whitehouse

True

Answering the call time and again.

Rhode Island has the "the second-most heavily deployed National Guard in the United States."

Kathleen Vinehout

Kathleen Vinehout

False

Simple math = bad math

Says 21,000 Wisconsin residents got jobs in 2011, but "18,000 of them" were in other states.

Progress Texas

Progress Texas

Mostly False

Two spots shy of No. 1

Without U.S. Senate action, Texas will have more federal judicial vacancies this year than any other state.

Richard Morrison

Richard Morrison

Half-True

But Arizona's ban doesn't go quite so far.

After Arizona banned smoking in "all public places" in 2007, "admissions for acute myocardial infarction … stroke, asthma, [and] angina decreased following the implementation of the ban."

Nicholas Kettle

Nicholas Kettle

Mostly False

Not necessarily causing economic benefits

"If you look at states that are right to work, they constantly do not have budget deficits and they have very good business climates."

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich

Mostly False

Rule he's speaking of has religious exemption

"The Obama administration ... would impose on every Catholic institution, every Jewish institution, every Protestant institution the Obamacare standard of what you have to buy as insurance." 

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