In the rough-and-tumble of a town hall-style debate, not all of Mitt Romney's and Barack Obama's claims stood up to scrutiny Tuesday night. Here's a look at some of their claims.
LIBYA
Obama: The day after last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, "I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. That this was an act of terror."
Romney: "I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."
Obama: "Get the transcript."
The facts: What did Obama say in the Rose Garden a day after the attack in Libya? "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this nation," he said. But Romney is correct that it took the administration days to concede that the assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was an "act of terrorism" that appears unrelated to initial reports of anger at a video defaming the prophet Mohammed.
ENERGY
Romney: "As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land, and gas production was down 9 percent. Why? Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters."
Obama: "Very little of what Governor Romney just said is true. We've opened up public lands. We're actually drilling more on public lands than in the previous administration."
The facts: Both statements ring true, as far as they go. Obama correctly noted that he revamped the leasing program in an effort to force energy companies to use their leases or lose them. Curiously, the president did not mention the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the drilling on federal land is actually offshore, and much of the falloff in production came in the aftermath of the spill, when the administration halted drilling in order to review safety procedures.
