The headline of an August 10 Washington Post article read: “Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds.” But while the headline referred to Sen. Barack Obama and not Sen. John McCain, the article itself reported that the Tax Policy Center found that McCain's tax plan would add $5 trillion to the national debt while Obama's plan would add $3.4 trillion. The article stated in its third paragraph that "[a]ccording to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018." The 10th paragraph stated that "[a]ccording to the Tax Policy Center, McCain's tax plans would increase the national debt by at least $5 trillion over the next 10 years."

In a July 2008 report titled “An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans,” the Tax Policy Center stated:

Both campaigns have complained that our analysis is incomplete because we fail to consider the effects of their spending cuts on the budget. If federal spending evolves as CBO predicts, the tax cuts would translate into substantial increases in the national debt. Senator Obama's plan as described by his economic advisers would increase the debt by about $3.4 trillion by 2018; Senator McCain's plan would increase it by $5.0 trillion. And the health proposals and campaign promises not in the official descriptions could increase the costs still further.

An August 10 DailyKos diary by bradams previously noted that the Post headline highlighted the Tax Policy Center's finding about Obama's tax plan while ignoring its findings about McCain's plan.