it's format requirements. only three current members of the u.s. senate have served longer than iowan chuck grassley. he joins me for a discussion on the issue and his run for a seventh term in washington. plus. the campaign trail brought a string of political heavy weights to town. we'll look back on things. and it all starts right now. >> join us as we discuss what's happening in siouxland. it's "this week in siouxland." good morning, and we're glad you're with us. democrats may not have outdone their republican counterparts in the ratings war this week, but when it comes to substance, it's a different story. the dems turned up the heat on just about everything gop candidates hit on during thier first two debates, plus several new talking points. did it make a difference? we'll find out between now and november 14th when the dems

two. patrick mckinley from the political science at morningside college and valerie hennings. appreciate both of you folks being with us this morning. it's been a few days. you had a chance to think back over the democratic debate. just to jump out, go ahead patrick. >> what you have the different candidates all had an agenda for themselves that they had to establish, and i think that each of them had specific goals that they were attempting to achieve. i think that we could probably grade each of them in different ways. i look towards the bottom of the ticket in terms of poll numbers. governor -- senator web and chafee, struggled a bit. oh mallly had a better performance. how do you think sanders and clinton did? >> i think they both did very well.

to achieve. working on whether or not she was trustworthy, and likeable. and in this performance, it was a strong performance. she was poised, self assured and likeable. so i think that was important when it comes to goals on her side. sanders needed to continue speaking to those to the left of the democrats, particularly clinton and thinking about how does he continue to establish the key cornerstones of his policy agenda. >> he's clearly a different debate than we saw the previous debate, not only in numbers, but just the tenor of the debate was completely different. >> i think that one can't -- we can look at poll numbers in terms of the number of people watching, people were not necessarily expecting the same kind of fireworks that we had at

pretty grounded series of discussions about variations. a lot of commonality in what the candidates were talking about, getting their own particular spin to particular themes, but looking at a ton of distance between them except for a couple hot button issues. >> donald trump promised that it wasn't going to be worth watching. 15 million people did watch. still behind the republican numbers, close to 23 million. but still was big numbers. and big times. the stopwatch was running during the debate. here is a quick look at some interesting comparisons here on the blue and the red. the red number -- the red arrows, the graphs, are polling numbers. the blue is the airtime. when you look at the graph, although hillary clinton had more than 30 minutes of face time, sanders 28, and o'malley 16 when you look at this hilly lost out if you balance the poll

numbers versus how much time she maybe should have had at the bottom. it's a completely different y. >> is that just the way it's going to play out? >> i don't think it's necessarily surprising. however, i'm thinking a lot about what jim webb said in the debate and how he's talking about airtime. and for the most part i think we would expect the frontrunners to have more time and then the bottom two excuse me the bottom three having less time, as well. >> several topics that the gop has not been able to bring to the forefront, domestic surveillance, campaign finance reform, wall street, discussion about race as a whole. i thought martin o'malley took time to jump out of the pack a little bit and show his background as a leader, as a governor that has led a state. let's listen to what was said about this. >> when i ran for mayor of baltimore, and we had -- we were burying over tree hundred 50 young men every single year, mostly young and poor and black, and i said to our legislature at

front of them, we are burying white young poor men in these numbers we would be marching in the streets and there would be a different reaction. black lives matter and we have a lot of work to do to reform the criminal justice system and address race relations in the country. >> it's a long way to go for martin o'malley but did he do anything to help separate himself from the bottom half put him in the top half? >> i don't think he had a break out moment. he had a strong performance but it wasn't exactly what he needed. he needed to have that moment that everyone would be continuing to talk about weeks on end and i don't think -- >> people didn't do that. we talked about some of the subject matters that were a lot of different buzzwords. e-mails was one of them. the republicans have been able to put hillary clinton up against the wall on this debate against her e-mail server and benghazi, but with the activities surrounding the speaker of the house and that whole chaos it might appear the republicans left the door open and she was able to make a

pretty good response, and there was maybe backed off the republicans just a little bit when it came to e-mail. your thoughts? >> and i think about bernie sanders assist in terms of talking about the e-mails and how they weren't necessary to talk about anymore, as well. >> brought up one of the lighter moments. >> it is a -- admitted by the house republican majority leader, mr. mccarthy, to drive down my poll numbers, big surprise. and that's what they have attempted to do. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me too. me too. >> almost the chance to laugh a little bit. but it's been such a serious bulls-eye target so far, but it was a lighter moment. >> i think one of the -- the primary audience are democratic

primary goers, and sometimes that group has been as nervous about this e-mail issue as the republicans are critical of it. this may maybe give clinton a chance to say i got a narrative to help shape this. and affirms some of the folks on her side of the aisle. >> you mentioned the buzzword e-mail is one of them. i want to take a look at a graphic. look closely, but the buzzwords from left to right in the blue is e-mails, the red word is the free, rich or wealthy, trump with the black, and wall street the other indicator there in the green. and you see that burn peeked about all the other candidates in most of those subject matter. sanders brought up wall street 11 different times. i don't know how much he actually read into this, but at one point he was actually -- the mention was able to support

hillary on the owe mail discussion, and so it is interesting the target words that the candidate used. >> i think that the -- his focus on wall street reflects how he's trying to drive up his notion of the principles upon which he's running, and you know, are we regulating wall street or is wall street regulating us? that was one of his break out lines. that is going to resonate with the democratic party, so that's why he's coming back to that and driving that message as clearly as he can. >> i think that when i pick up the wall street line, as well i think it indicates the style among the candidates in terms of issues. we had some attacks by one candidate to otherandidates, but most of the criticisms were more veiled. and i think when it comes to responding to one of those policy points, we saw discussions of policy with those buzzwords that indicate, for example, denmark, didn't make

the graph. but we know that again that was an opportunity for the candidates to try to find some separation and distinction among themselves. >> one of the words folks are used to hearing is immigration. lots of different talking points there. and i thought the democrats were able to take advantage of that, as well. let's listen to this. >> there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage and what we hear from the republicans. who have deem onize hard working immigrants, who have insulted them. >> is that one discussion that is probably going to continue going like it is? i think it's safe to say the republicans aren't going to come to a happen my moment and have the exact same option. >> i think so, when it comes to immigration policy, we're going to see an opportunity where we have just a clear distinction in terms of the wide candidates. >> you mentioned the word a couple contentious moments.

guns was one of those. hillary clinton pointed out that sanders did vote against the brady bill several times. as well as an antigun related bill. let's listen to this. >> he also did vote as he said for the immunity provision. i voted against it. it wasn't that complicated to me. it was pretty straightforward to me, that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in america, everybody else has to doable, but not the gun manufacturers. >> i can tell secretary clinton that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what i would hope all of us want. and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns, and end this violence that we are seeing. >> sanders went on the make the point about real guns versus urban guns. is that a real talking point or a way to pacify everyone on the evening?

>> well, i think that it shows one of the dilemmas he faces as a sitting senator from a rural state that at one time he has to still represent his state, and real interests that he's familiar with, but this is a national issue and how does he stage? especially since the issue is gaining momentum in the broader again on the democratic side of things, it's becoming a more pressing issue. and he's going to have to find a way to respond to that. said. i viewed that distinction as more of a pivot in terms of how does he try to address criticism that he's being challenged with. >> last one, i want to get your reaction, the republicans were watching, that's for sure. take a look at some of the tweets that went out tuesday night. can anyone imagine chafee as president? no way, he said. if you think this country is on

the wrong track hillary clinton just told you she has no interest in changing the direction. i sure will. and lastly the most controversial, where he said i trust @berniesanders at my tax declares like i trust a north korean chef with my labrador. >> i think one thing that we need to keep in mind is that when we head towards the general election the base between the republican and the democratic nominee i expect they can to be quite different. >> and appreciate your time, and we'll continue the dialogue as we move through this campaign season, i guess. thanks. >> thank you. >> what do you think? we want to know, and you can reach out to us with any of these conversation platforms, facebook or e-mail or get me on twitter at tim seaman abc 9. after last week's show the democrats were in, to prove you the big democratic debate, how long will joe biden supporters

to make a decision? @rockymcrocky tweeted i dont think biden supporters will take this noncommittal candidacy any longer. run or do not run, there is no maybe. and ron from orange city emailed me with, does it matter? eight years of liberal law-making is eight years too much. we'll find out, ron. after the break, morningside college students got the chance to quiz chuck grassley this week, and so did i. he joins me for a one-on-one conversation. several candidates did heavy

we'll take a look back. >> we're back of more of "this week in siouxland." >> thanks to the power of the iowa caucuses the 2016 presidential campaign and iowa are connected at the hip. but there's another lesser know connection as well. it's known as the "full grassley". long before any white house hopeful talked about visiting all 99 iowa counties, senator chuck grassley was running laps around the state. he's toured town halls from inwood to glenwood. i had a chance to sit down for an extended discussion with the senator this week when he gathered with students at

out time together. >> i don't think the problem is begun, i think the problem is mental health issues. if you look at the mass killing, and that's when the subject comes up most of the time. mass killings you would find except in the last several years, except in one instance, every one of the people had some sort of mental health issue. >> someone isn't going to be going to a doctor, so how do you identify? >> it's difficult without even considering what your question was, it's difficult for two reasons. number one is there is a debtor of psychiatrists and psychologists. the second thing is hipaa. and you know what that is, privacy and -- of medical records. we got to get people thinking in terms of mental health, talking like -- about it like we do physical health. >> what do we do to be more aggressive, to make changes inside mental health? >> we need to be talking about

this issue other than when there's mass killings. there's not enough talk about it generally. and when there is talk about it, it tends to be political. you got to get it out of the politics to talk about it. >> senator grassley was hesitant to talk about the clays on in the house but said he knows representative paul ryan of wisconsin and thanks he could be effective in the role of speaker of the house. >> i have confidence in him. he's a long-term planner, so policies isn't going to be just for the next election, it's going to be long term. and he's smart. i think he's politically capable of bringing grouping together. >> in an effort to help resettle syrian refugees, the u.s. could be accepting at least 10,000, displaced syrians over the next year. grassley said a better option is forming a safe zone on the turkish border.

>> it would stem the tide of refugees going to europe or some of them coming to the united states. which i'm not sure that i'm in favor, but under the president's authority he could do that. i think it would stem that. and i think it would help meet people. >> the senate passed a long-term transportation bill. the house has a shorter version that is set to expire later this month if i remember correctly. >> i don't know where this is going to happen but we were told in august that the house was surprised that we passed a long-term bill, and that when we got back in september they were going to work on it. in the meantime, senator schumer and paul ryan were working on some dramatic compromise. we think now that those negotiations fell through, so we hope now that the senate will move along with a bill like the house -- like we hope that the house will move along with the six year bill like the senate has already done. we need a long-term bill.

in the last five years, 35 times. that's enough kicking the can down the road. >> grassley plans to second a seventh term. first elected in 1974 he would be 89 at the end of his seventh term. i asked him why voters should send him back. >> i think there is a lot of reasons, but one would be i think i have a good record of serving the people of iowa. and i want to make very clear that even though i'm seeking a seventh term, this job does not belong to chuck grassley. every one of us in congress hold what you call a public trust. >> for somebody that says that term limits are something that really needs to be in place, that too often too few control, what would you say to that? >> that i had an opportunity at least once in the united states senate to support term limits, and so i voted for them. but i'm not going to term limit

have a different standard than the other 49 states. >> and so what do you think? we would like to know. get in touch with any of our platforms. go to facebook, twitter or send me an e-mail message, as well. let us know what you think about what the senator had to say. wouldn't be a week in iowa without some presidential candidates comes across the state and that included a few stops in sioux city. texas senator ted cruz had an event monday night, where he told us the republican party needs to make a change. >> we nominate another candidate in the mold of bob dole, or john mccain, or mitt romney, all of whom are good, honorable decent men, but what they did didn't work. if you do it again, the same conservatives who stayed home in '08, will stay home in '16, and hillary clinton becomes the next president. >> cruz spoke to a crowd

tech community college. he has slowly been gaining ground in the polls, but hasn't been able to catch up to trump, carson and fiorina. that being said, his track record is leaving an impression on iowa voters. >> he's made a big imprint in the senate. we need more people like him to speak up and understand the constitution. he's got a lot of -- he'll do a good job going forward. also in sioux city this week was kentucky senator rand paul, who took time to speak with us about the conflict in syria. several of his fellow republican running mates have suggested a no fly zone, an idea paul called an incredibly bad idea. >> think about it. russia is already in the area. that's a recipe for confrontation. we spent 70 years avoiding a confrontation with russia. i think it's a really bad idea. and interestingly you got the bad idea coming from hillary

republicans, as well. >> foreign policy wasn't the only focus of his talk to students at morningside college, though. in an effort to gain the support of millennials, paul is doing a tour aimed at college students. his end goal is to get 10,000 iowa college students to caucus for him in february. to do that, paul is reaching out to the students about issues that matter to them. he spent a part of his time talking about the drug war, particularly marijuana. paul says the punishment for marijuana is too harsh, but he is not in favor of legalizing it. former secretary of state and u.s. ambassador madeleine albright was in sioux city campaigning for hillary clinton. she spoke to clinton supporters at the pierce mansion on wednesday. albright and clinton worked on may projects over the years, including holding a women's rights conference in china twenty years ago. it was during those trips that clinton earned the respect of albright, as the two formed a strong working relationship. >> there is no other way to describe it.

the kind of attack team and traveling around and being partners. having the support of people on human rights issues, health issues. i think she is the best ambassador that america has. >> and, of course, we'll continue to keep you posted as the candidates and their staffs continue to crisscross the state of iowa. we'll be right back to show you this things nine things to know.

we'll be right back. >> we're back more with "this week in siouxland." >> make sure to stick around for the second half of the hour for this week in iowa, where you can learn about an iowa congressional race that could get interesting in 2016. amanda gives us a preview. >> coming up on this week in iowa we're going to sit down with congressman david young. we talked to him numerous times throughout the year. we want to talk to him about some of the leadership changes, specifically how it's going to affect the iowa delegation. we're going to talk to him about the race that lies ahead for him coming up in his appoint that i'm sure he's looking forward to. all that and much more coming up on "this week in siouxland." >> here is this week's nine

things to know. we get started with a date in history, november 22nd, 1981 the u.s. national debt tops $1 trillion. today it's over $18 trillion. the musketeers are on the ice against waterloo at the tyson. anthon has the fire and rescue barbeque saturday. halloween spook tack awe lar is saturday, 2:00 at the family correct center. the 31th annual cardiology conference is wednesday here in sioux city. up in hawarden the regional health care, the harvest festival gets started at nine. the 19th annual stem auction to benefit the children of tanzania as bev's on the river. the sioux city arts center popular event combines cultural centers. topping the list, the 14th 14th annual governor's

conference comes to town thursday, 12:00 noon. governor brandt branstad will be in attendance. thanks for taking the time to join us, and make sure to circle sunday on your calendar. we'll be back next sunday morning.captioning provided bycaptions solutions, llc.captionsolutions.com (music) >>amanda: the dems debate, but did anybody gain anybody ground? plus iowa congressman david young joins us in-studio to talk about republican leadership. we also get his take on the presidential field. and is his seat safe? a challenger in-studio with us today. (music) >>thanks everyone for joining us on this week in iowa. i'm amanda krenz. the stage may have been a little less crowded, but the stakes were just as high. the five candidates tuesday night for the first democratic debate were less than half of the 11 on stage for the most