The State of the Union has been called “the Super Bowl of fact-checking,” a night that brings out not just the regulars from PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and The Associated Press, but also reporters from a host of other news organizations who check every claim the president makes. A report last fall by my Duke colleagues Erica Ryan, Mark Stencel and Belen Bricchi found a troubling phenomenon of “fact deserts,” states where politicians get little or no scrutiny for their factual claims. The Duke Reporters’ Lab report found 29 states had no dedicated state or local fact-checkers, leaving politicians largely free to make wild, false claims with little worry about being held accountable.