Accuracy Report Card—First Debate

Well, it was 90 minutes of Al Gore and George W. Bush slinging facts, figures, accusations and assumptions at each other during Tuesday's presidential debate.

Here's an attempt to put some of their comments into context and fill in some of the blanks:

Fact Check #1: TAXES
Gore repeatedly criticized Bush's tax plan during the debate, saying that the rich would be the only ones to benefit from his tax cuts. Gore said Bush gives "nearly half of it [his tax cut proposal] to the wealthiest 1 percent."

What Bush has actually proposed is an across-the-board tax cut, which would benefit all taxpayers. And since 80 percent of the federal income taxes are paid by the richest fifth of the country, obviously an across-the-board tax cut would benefit the rich.

On the other hand, Bush, in describing his tax plan, said that no one would pay more than one third of their income in federal taxes. What he didn't mention was that almost no one currently pays that much now.

Additionally, Bush claimed that Gore's "targeted tax cut for the middle class…excludes 50 million Americans."

Actually, many of those individuals would benefit from targeted tax credits which Bush and other critics consider spending and not a tax cut. However, these credits effectively act as tax refunds for lower- to middle-class families with children or who are paying for education.

Fact Check #2: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Gore said, "If you make more than $25,000 a year, you don't get a penny of help under the Bush prescription drug proposal for at least four to five years."

Bush's response is that Gore's facts are "fuzzy math."

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Basically, Bush's plan would help low-income seniors for the first four years. And other seniors would only receive assistance if their prescription drug costs wound up being more than $6,000. After four years, all seniors would then get the full benefits.

Fact Check #3: EDUCATION
Bush said, "Well,…the difference is, there is no new accountability measures in Vice President Gore's plan. He says he's for voluntary testing."

This is flat out incorrect. In fact, Gore's plan would require all states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, testing reading and math in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades.

Fact Check #4: ABORTION
On the RU-486 abortion pill, Bush said there's nothing he could do as president and "I think the FDA has made its decision."

However, when the FDA approved the drug last Thursday, the Bush campaign said if he's elected, Bush would appoint an FDA commissioner "to make sure the FDA considered the risk and did not take this action as a result f political pressure from the White House."

Fact Check #5: TEXAS TOUR
After Bush mentioned natural disasters in Texas to which he, as governor, had responded, Gore said, "I accompanied James Lee Witt down to Texas when those fires broke out, and FEMA has been a major flagship project of our reinventing government efforts, and I agree, it works extremely well now."

Gore press secretary Chris Lehane now tells CBS News that Gore did not go to Texas with Witt, but did go in 1998 with a FEMA Deputy Director.

Jane Ruvelson and Candice Berry contributed to this report. It was written by Steve Chaggaris.