Rep. Joe Barton, ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, has begun releasing daily factoids about the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s a clever way to counter the lies Democrats are spreading about SCHIP. Today’s fact shines the spotlight on the unintended use of SCHIP for adults:

According to the states’ budget projections, 13 will spend more than 44 percent of their SCHIP funds in 2008 on people who are neither children nor pregnant women.

Michigan tops the list with 71.6 percent of its SCHIP money earmarked for adults who have no kids. In New Mexico, 52.3 percent of the state’s SCHIP dollars will be spent on childless adults.

Imagine if each congressional office began doing something similar? It’s going to take that level of energy and that amount of information to get the message across. Lazy reporters have accepted the Democrats’ talking points as reality. Conservatives need to do a better job of communicating the facts.