Has a Candidate Flipped? Flopped? Just Ask PolitiFact

By: E&P Staff Trying to figure out whether your candidate is a flip-flopper or not? Thanks to the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, your life just got a lot easier.

PolitiFact, the fact-checking Web site for the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, is unveiling a new feature called the Flip-O-Meter, that will show exactly when the presidentital candidates have flip-flopped their opinion on a certain issue.

"Accusing your opponent of flip-flopping has become a regular form of political attack,'' said Neil Brown, executive editor of the St. Petersburg Times in a statement. "PolitiFact will help voters sort it out; was it a flip-flop or not?"

The Flip-O-Meter is similar to PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter, which rates the truthfulness of the candidates' statements. Reporters from the Times and Congressional Quarterly will research a candidate's statements and determine whether the candidate has earned a No Flip, Half Flip, or Full Flop.

Since Politifact was launched last year, it claims to have checked more than 500 claims and statements by the presidential candidates, the parties, independent groups and chain e-mails. The site's homepage is divided into two areas: The Attack File, which rates statements that attack a candidate, and the Truth-O-Meter section, which rates the candidates' claims about issues.