The air war begins this weekend in the fight for the Republican nomination for governor between the incumbent, Rick Perry, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
They're both starting TV commercial campaigns, but a News 8 fact check review shows that neither tells the whole story.
In Hutchison's ad, she claims her conviction to stopping the Democratic health care plan demands she split her time between campaigning and the Senate.
"And it's why I'm staying in the Senate through the primary at risk to my political future," she tells viewers.
Hutchison also states: "We don't need a government takeover of health care."
Not so fast. It depends on what constitutes a "takeover."
There are coverage mandates in the Senate bill, but politifact.com points out the bill will leave the current system of private insurance in place with new regulation.
And the Congressional Budget Office predicts the "public option" in the Senate bill would cover less than 1.5 percent of the population.
"I'm going to do everything I can to stop the government takeover of health care," Hutchison says in her ad.
Not so fast; she could've done more.
The Dallas Morning News reported in August that Hutchison skipped all four Commerce Committee hearings this year on health insurers.
Rick Perry's ad keeps with his message that Washington is the problem and he knows better.
The ad's announcer claims Perry is "the only governor since World War II to cut general revenue spending twice."
But that's misleading.
State spending has gone down only when adjusted for inflation and population growth, according to the Legislative Budget Board. Actual general revenue spending went up.
Perry's ad also claims that the governor "kept his promise to reduce taxes for 40,000 small businesses."
That's true.
But what's not mentioned is that Perry agreed to increase the tax on smokeless tobacco to pay for part of it.
"Today our budget is balanced, with billions left in savings," the Perry ad boasts.
That's also true.
But it's the Texas Constitution — not Perry — that demands a balanced budget, and Perry and lawmakers preserved the rainy day fund by using $12 billion in federal stimulus funds.
E-mail bwatson@wfaa.com
