Checking in on Jebio

With the first Republican presidential debate over, Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush are both ramping up their campaigns.

From time to time, PolitiFact Florida will check in on how they’re faring on our Truth-O-Meter. Here’s a look at the latest fact-checks of both.

Rubio’s responses

As of this writing, we’ve rated 102 claims by Rubio:

During the Aug. 6, 2015, debate in Cleveland, Rubio criticized banking regulations for allegedly making it difficult for community banks to succeed. He said he wanted to roll back the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in the wake of the financial crisis in 2010, because it was too restrictive.

"Over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out since Dodd-Frank has passed," he said.

Rubio’s figure is overstated for the time frame he gives. The highest estimate we found shows a 16 percent decline in the past five years -- less than half of what he said. The trend Rubio describes began decades before Dodd-Frank became law in 2010. Even then, experts say a host of factors other than Dodd-Frank are at play.

We rated his claim Mostly False.

At the same debate, Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly noted that Rubio favored "a rape and incest exception to abortion bans." Rubio, who is staunchly against abortion rights, denied that he has taken that position.

"I have never said that. And I have never advocated that," Rubio said. "What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection."

In 2013 and 2015, Rubio has supported federal bills that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks, and the bill did include exceptions for rape or incest. He also supported a Florida House bill for ban on late-term abortions that allowed a doctor to take steps to save the life of the mother. So Rubio has supported legislation with exceptions.

We will note, however, that we could find no evidence that Rubio has generally favored those types of exceptions, and we couldn’t find him specifically advocating for them.

We rated his statement Mostly False.

In an August interview, Rubio attacked the recent release of video showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue donations. He raised concerns about teen access to the procedure.

He said "a minor cannot get a tattoo without parental consent but can get an abortion without parental consent."

Rubio has a good argument for about 11 states, but that’s a minority. More commonly, parents by law need to be at least notified — and in many cases give their consent — for a minor to have an abortion. There is a significant exception, however: 37 states allow a minor to go through a judge without notifying parents. As for tattoos, most states either ban them for minors or require parental consent.

We rated this claim Half True.

Bush’s banter

PolitiFact Florida has fact-checked 49 claims Bush made:

At the Cleveland debate, Bush said the federal government should stop giving the group money, just as he had done in Florida.

"Here’s my record: As governor of Florida I defunded Planned Parenthood. I created a culture of life in our state," he said.

In 2001, he used his line-item veto power to end funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates in the Sunshine State, and that funding never returned. We must note that the money was for family planning and health care services, not abortions, but he did cut off state money for the group.

We rated Bush’s statement True.

He also has been playing up his electability, telling Telemundo on July 27 that he handily won over Hispanic voters as governor.

"In my re-election in 2002, I won the majority," he said. "I won more Hispanic votes than Anglo votes, 60 percent in the state. It can be done."

While Bush historically had enjoyed a strong Hispanic voter base, we found there actually aren’t the usual exit poll results from his 2002 re-election to support this conclusion. However, most media analyses from the election do suggest Bush carried about 60 percent of the Hispanic vote, as he did in 1998. Experts we consulted said that was most likely the case.

We rated his claim Mostly True.