Iowa nice

By Bill Adair
Published on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 6:40 p.m.

Related rulings:

"We reduced abortion. We increased adoptions by 135 percent."

Rudy Giuliani, Wednesday, December 12th, 2007.

Ruling: Mostly False | Details

"Five percent of Americans pay over half the income taxes in this country. Forty percent of Americans pay no income taxes at all."

Fred Thompson, Wednesday, December 12th, 2007.

Ruling: True | Details

"We've got some 37-million of our fellow citizens who are living in poverty; about 12-million or 13-million are children."

Chris Dodd, Thursday, December 13th, 2007.

Ruling: True | Details

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They call it "Iowa nice," the tendency of Iowans to be friendly and civil — and expect the same from their presidential candidates. That may explain why the Dec. 12 Republican debate was so bland (the New York Times called it a "sleepy affair;" the Washington Post headline called it "lifeless"). The Dec. 13 Democratic debate was more of the same.

With the campaigns preparing for an unofficial cease-fire over the holidays, the candidates played it safe. After all, Iowans know who's been naughty and who's been nice.

We checked the candidates' claims:

* Rudy Giuliani found a new way to exaggerate his record on adoptions. Instead of reciting the 65-70 percent increase he's used before, this time he said he'd boosted them by 135 percent. We find that claim to be Barely True .

* Fred Thompson made a bold statement on taxes, including saying that "40 percent of Americans pay no income taxes." Would you believe it? That's True .

* Chris Dodd was practically quoting a U.S. Census report when he said 37-million Americans are living in poverty. No surprise, we ruled his claim True .