GOP ad wars invade Florida airwaves

With the Florida primary set for Jan. 31, Republican presidential hopefuls have started aiming television ads at each other, hoping to sway voters as the big day approaches.

Seen an ad that needs fact-checking? Drop us an email. Just describe the ad generally; we’ll track it down and fact-check it. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

This week, we looked at an ad from Restore Our Future, a super PAC that supports former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The ad is a response to former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who has been attacking Romney and his connection to Bain Capital, a private equity fund that has laid off workers.

"Newt Gingrich’s attacks are called 'foolish,' 'out of bounds,' and 'disgusting.' Newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines," says the ad, which is running in Florida and South Carolina.

"Newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations, took $1.6 million from Freddie Mac, and co-sponsored a bill with Nancy Pelosi that would have given $60 million a year to a U.N. program supporting China’s brutal one-child policy."

"Don’t be fooled by Newt’s desperate attacks," the ad concludes.

The ad is right that Gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. Gingrich also concedes that he advised Freddie Mac. (Bloomberg reported he was paid $1.6 million, but that specific amount rests on unnamed sources.)

But did Gingrich co-sponsor a bill with Nancy Pelosi "that would have given $60 million a year to a U.N. program supporting China’s brutal one-child policy"? That’s Pants on Fire wrong.

We’ll be watching the airwaves in the weeks ahead and holding all the candidates accountable for their ads. We’re sure there will be more to come.