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The estimable FactCheck.org just got a twin brother - PolitiFact.com. Both sites set out to set the record straight - both Democrats and Republicans receive the microscope treatment.

FactCheck.org, a project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center at The University of Pennsylvania, has been around for a few years. As their website states:

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

You can receive an email from them whenever they "make a ruling" as to the veracity of this or that claim by said politician or policy wonk.

Launched by The St. Petersburg Times and The Congressional Quarterly of Washington, DC, PolitiFact.com is scheduled to go "live" on September 4th, but is up and running now. The site is compelling, as it offers a "truth-o-meter" that rates statements by the 2008 presidential candidates on a scale from "true" through "half true" to "pants on fire."

From their website:

Each election year we hear this lament from our readers suffering the barrage of campaign rhetoric: "just gimme the truth."

That's the mission of PolitiFact. The St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C. - two of America's most trusted, independent newsrooms - have created the site to help voters separate fact from falsehood in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Journalists and researchers from the Times and CQ will fact-check the accuracy of speeches, TV ads, interviews and other campaign communications. We'll publish new findings every day on PolitiFact.com, and list our sources for all to see.

Read more about their "Truth-o-Meter," a valuable tool as we round Labor Day and start a new political season.

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