Truth Index: PolitiFact 2011 "Very" Preliminary

PolitiFact National and  a few regional PolitiFact (PF) rulings are still trickling in during the last week of 2011.  Right now I'm sitting at a little over 1,900 rulings for the year 2011.  PolitiFact peaked with the gross number of rulings in the second quarter of 2011, hitting over 500, and I thought with New Jersey coming on board that the number would increase.  However, in the third quarter it dropped to 476 rulings, and this quarter, perhaps due to the holidays, it will be around 450 to 455.

Click to enlarge:  Number of Republican rulings has increased as a percentage throughout 2011.

What can be reported preliminarily at this point is that in 2011, Republicans dominated.  The percentage of Republican statements being ruled on increased as the year progressed, most likely due to covering the numerous Republican presidential debates.  This final quarter of 2011, for example, the number of Republican statements being rated for all PF regions including National exceeded Democrats by 70 percent (overall, it's less than 60%).  PolitiFact National brought the percentage up with a two-for-one emphasis on Republicans. Above is how it all looks on a bar chart: the number in parentheses is the total number of rulings for that quarter.  This is subject to additional review for any errors (see below) I may find as I scour it for any dupes and miscategorizations when I do the final charts.  But it's not expected to change greatly.  Below is how PF National looks:  almost 2/3 of their rulings were on Republicans in the fourth quarter.  Today they added two more Republican rulings not included here:  they were both on claims in Gingrich attack ads being done by a Romney super PAC.

Click to enlarge:  The run-up to the Republican primaries brought the PF National/New Hampshire
percentage of Republican rulings to over 66 percent in the 4th quarter of 2011.

In the meantime, I have to note I found a "dupe" on the part of PolitiFact.  I get the impression they have some sort of software for publishing their rulings, like a template where there are drop-downs for the subject, the sources, etc., as well as for "which" PolitiFact.  Because I found one somewhat "local" Ohio ruling by an Ohio writer which somehow ended up in both the PF Ohio....and PF Texas listings?  Oh well, it was just one out of 1,900-plus.  But I found it only because this quarter I have started recording the statement, which is what prompted me to discover it.  So I am wondering if there may be more. 

Josh Mandel is running for office in Ohio.  This "Half True" ruling was counted twice by PF (see link).

Here's where it's in its proper place.  How it ended up in Texas as well, I have NO idea.