Lies and statistics

National | AD WATCH: Presidential campaigns push their economic messages, as interest groups seek to undermine Bush's 9/11 leadership | Bob Jones

The Bush and Kerry campaigns hit the airwaves with dueling economic ads on April 1, while the liberal interest group MoveOn.org moved quickly to capitalize on former anti-terror adviser Richard Clarke's explosive testimony before the 9/11 commission. How do the charges and countercharges stack up?

sponsor: bush campaign

The visual: The ad begins and ends with close-ups of John Kerry. Other photos scroll across a blueprintlike background: a young white couple, an African-American child, a frowning old man, a credit card being inserted into a gas pump. Next to the photos, a rolling meter clicks off the Kerry votes in question.

The verbal: "John Kerry's economic record. Troubling. He opposed tax relief for married couples 22 times. Opposed increasing the child tax credit 18 times. Kerry supported higher taxes over 350 times. He even supported increasing taxes on Social Security benefits and a 50-cent-a-gallon tax hike for gasoline. Now John Kerry's plan will raise taxes at least $900 billion his first 100 days. Kerry and the economy? Troubling."