Fact Checker

It was an alarming advertisement, claiming that Virginia's former attorney general supported a bill that would have allowed employers to drop mammograms and cancer screenings from health-care plans -- made more alarming by the claim that Robert F. McDonnell was one of only nine attorneys general in the United States to do so.

The radio ad, circulated this month by Democratic state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, noted that his Republican opponent was one of the nine who had not signed on to a 2006 letter opposing federal legislation that would have allowed employers to not carry such state-mandated benefits.

McDonnell's campaign says the attorney general was opposed to the legislation but didn't receive the draft letter. It was sent to the office of his chief deputy, William C. Mims, on April 21, 2006, a Friday, the campaign said. The deadline was Monday, April 24, and the letter was sent to Congress on Tuesday.

That weekend, McDonnell was in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Shenandoah Valley, working and spending time with his family, his campaign said.

"Due to his travel schedule, personal obligations and the carrying out of official business, McDonnell was never presented with the letter and office recommendation for his review, and the deadline passed for signing on to the national form letter," the campaign said.

So he missed the chance to sign on. But would he have done so even if he had more time? Tucker Martin, a McDonnell spokesman, said, "Yes, absolutely," he would have signed it.

Two other attorneys general, Mississippi's Jim Hood and Oklahoma's Drew Edmondson, both Democrats, signed on to the letter late, but Martin said the deadline has passed and McDonnell had not read it.