Russert falsely asserted Democrats have received one-third of money contributed by Abramoff

During a debate between incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) and his challenger in the November election, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), on the October 1 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host Tim Russert falsely asserted that "one-third of [convicted lobbyist Jack] Abramoff's money went to Democrats" in response to Brown's statements regarding donations to DeWine.

In fact, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted (including here, here, here, and here), Abramoff did not donate money to Democrats. A Media Matters search of the Center for Responsive Politics database of campaign contributions did not find any contributions from Abramoff to Democrats or Democratic leadership political action committees.

From the October 1 edition of NBC's Meet the Press:

BROWN: Mike DeWine received more than $400,000 from oil and gas interests, votes for an energy bill that they wrote.

RUSSERT: But Congressman Brown, one-third of Abramoff's money went to Democrats.

BROWN: Maybe it did. It didn't go to me.

—A.H.S.