Sifting through fact and fiction in the GOP presidential race

SEATTLE -- The seesaw battle for the Republican presidential nomination has made Saturday's GOP caucus a major political event.

All four of the remaining Republican candidates have spend time wooing Washington voters in recent weeks, and one of them will win the party's nomination. That is, if they can survive a barrage of attacks from one another.

In an effort to sift through the mudsling and accusations, the KOMO 4 Problems are tracking the truth in all those political ads and claims.

None of the remaining candidates have told outright lies or mistruths, but they're all sharing one big gray area where proper context makes all the difference.

A recent Ron Paul commercial targets Mitt Romney and his support of the TARP bailouts.

Romney did support the first Wall Street Bailouts back in 2008, saying, "Had President Bush and Secretary Paulson not stepped in in such an aggressive way, that we would have had a complete collapse."

Another big claim in the Paul ad is that Romney provided the blueprint for what's been called "Obamacare."

There are similarities between the two health plans, but to say that Romney laid the blueprint for the president's plan is a bit of a stretch. They share similar requirements and goals, but they are different.

A political action committee supporting Newt Gingrich blasted Rick Santorum, saying the former Senator isn't a true fiscal conservative.

Santorum did have a history of earmarks. One independent study found that he brought around $1 billion back to Pennsylvania during his 11 years in the Senate.

But saying Santorum isn't a fiscal conservative is an opinion, not a fact-based claim.

This week Santorum said "I didn't rush to bail out my friends on Wall Street, in part, because I don't have any."

Santorum's contributions back that statement up. Healthcare and manufacturing play a big role in his fundraising, and while he does have financiers giving him money, they're not on Wall Street.

During his swing through Washington, Romney played to the technology industries. He said 75 percent of the software in China is pirated, calling it a huge threat to Microsoft and other companies.

Romney's almost right. Instead of 75 percent, the Business Software Alliance found that 86 percent of Chinese users pirated programs.