welcome to iowa in focus -- where we're giving context to what happens in the headlines and on the campaign trail.that starts with the barnstorm. barnstorm. a data dust-up late in the week pitted the top two democratic campaigns for the white house against each other. other.the democratic national committee suspended the sanders campaign from using using it's voter database for a good part of the day friday. it all happened after they found out a glitch gave a sanders staffer access to information put together by the clinton campaign. "it's as if you found a house with an unlocked front door and instead of locking it and notifying authorities, you went in and you took things, ransacked the house and took things that didn't belong to you." the sanders campaign filed a federal lawsuit and told the d-n-c how they got and then got rid of the data.they said being kept from that information would have cost them 600-thousand dollars a day in lost donations.the sanders data director was

only trying to figure out exactly what went wrong so he could accurately tell the d-n-c. "this campaign in an official capacity, does not possess any data, does not retain any data doesn't wany any of their data." tuesday night -- 13 republicans took the debate stage again for the last time this year. year.with changing poll numbers in iowa and across the nation putting ted cruz closer or ahead of donald trump -- the expectation was that those two would square off.instead -- cruz did sparred much more with marco rubio and jeb bush fueded more with donald trump. "tens of thousands of people having cell phones with isis flags on them...i don't think so wolf. they're not coming to this country.he's a chaos candidate. and he'd be a chaos president. he would not be the commander and chief we need to keep our country safe.jeb doesn't really believe i'm unhinged. he said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign, it's been a total disaster nobody cares."

clinton was in iowa city talking to voters partially about the republicans...but reform. "right now it's a mess. it so favors people on the top -- it so favors corporations." warren buffet endorsed her in the day -- so she talked about how he would make sure that richer americans -- would be made to pay what she calls their fair share in a hillary clinton administration. former vermont governor and former presidential candidate howard dean came through for the democratic front runner. runner. "she has more experience than everybody else put together in foreign affairs and since terrorism is a huge threat to the united states, i want somebody who knows what they're doing and i see no evidence of that on the other side of the aisle whatsoever. whatsoever.he says it's not that he doesn't like bernie sanders and martin o'malley -- he's close with both of them -- but he's supported hillary since before she even declared. republican marco rubio

performance earlier in the week with an appearance in dubuque friday.he was talking to voters in a sheet metal manufacturing business about how a rubio administration would do more to help businesses that need the kind of skills that workers do in dubuque. dubuque. "i don't know why we stopped teaching people to work with their hands in this country. but we need more welders, plumbers, pipefitters, machinists, electricians, airplane mechanics, car technicians and we can teach people to do this while they're in high school. school.he says he would support giving pell grants to high school students so they could go to trade school and high school at the same time and graduate ready to work right away. a few hours later -- carly fiorina was just a few blocks away talking to employees at mcgraw hill.the discussion was intended to be mostly about education -- but a lot of the questions from the audience had to do with national security. security. "well it comes up because people are afraid. they see paris, they see san bernardino

from this president. they don't hear a plan from hillary clinton." clinton."fiorina is out of the state now until after the holidays -- but then iowans can expect to see her nearly non-stop until the caucus. the three democrats faced off for the third time saturday night. night.they were in front of voters in new hampshire -- talking about national security -- reforming gun control and their republican counterparts.but first -- sanders struck back at the democratic national committee for locking his campaign out of their own voter data -- after his campaign fired the staffer that sanders says made a mistake. "but what the dnc did, arbitrarity, without discussing it with us, is shut off our access to our own information cripling our campaign. that is an egregious act.does secretary clinton deserve an apology tonight? yes, i appologize. appologize.that appology was directed at both clinton and sanders' supporters.she accepted it.

the republican front runners -- donald trump -- was in downtown cedar rapids.he told the crowd he wasn't going to run from praise from vladamir putin earlier in the week. week. "if putin likes me, and he thinks i'm a good, smart person, which i mean, i hope he believes that i am. actually he's right, i am brilliant. but if he says something positive that's a good thing that's not a bad thing." thing."trump says he hopes the two leaders would be able to work together so both nations can stop wasting so much time fighting with each other. the sun is shining bright for one homegrown cedar rapids company.van meter recently partnered with a political organization called next gen climate iowa - to act against climate change.steffi lee explains what motivated the cedar rapids company to get involved in one of the biggest and most partisan issues this election cycle. cycle. at van meter in cedar rapids - putting together clean energy materials...

clockwork. "light harvesting, geothermal, solar panels on the roof, it actually took our utility bill from roughly 10 thousand dollars a year to about three hundred dollars a year."vice president of diversified business scott cornish says the employee owned company is already helping other businesses like classic enterprises -harvest the power of solar energy. energy. "the things that we do we want to be generational. not just for the betterment of us today, but for those that come after us."now - they're taking the impact of all of this - beyond their warehouse and other rooftops. rooftops. "we were interested in partnering with next gen based on their commitment to drive public policy towards sustainability and clean energy."next gen climate's campaign urges iowans to commit to fighting climate change. change. "so fifty by thirty is the transition to fifty percent clean energy by the year 2030 - and this is something that with the current technology, as it is, we can achieve."both next gen and van meter say it's not only about winning over the environment. environment. "a new icf international economic

shows that we could add an additional 10 thousand jobs in 2030."it's to take this narrative outside the state level. level. " it's becoming more and more affordable and the barriers to get into the market are becoming less and less."where shattering barriers - means bringing these products to a national platform. platform."once you have awareness, then you can start providing solutions." next gen climate's sister organization also released numbers showing clean energy should result in eighteen thousand new jobs by 20-50. every week -- we'll be going inside iowa politics -- talking about the people not trying to move into the white house. one of the biggest stories that iowans are following has to do with governor terry branstad's plan to privatize medicaid. medicaid.it would hand over the state system to four private companies -- trying to streamline the process and cost the state less.but democrats are worried that it will cause coverage to suffer. last week -- federal investigators from the centers for medicare and medicaid were at the state house to see if

investigators decided to push the implimentation back 60 days to march 1st. coming up next -- we sat down with the governor.see what he has to say about being the

s history. welcome back to iowa in focus. this week we're joined by governor terry branstad, who just became the longest serving governor in united states history this week. congratulations governor. governor.thank you youwas that the plan back in 1982? 1982?no. i had no clue this would happen. in fact i had no clue what the record was when

thought i would be running for re election for leutenant governor and governor robert d. ray, who was a very popular governor decided very late, in februrary that he wouldn't be running for re election. so i shifted from running for re election to running for governor so i came in as the youngest governor in iowa history and now i'm the longest servinging governor in iowa and americanhistory. ry.did you want to run for governor at 36 or did it just work out that that was the time to go for it. it.it actually started much earlier than that. i had some great teachers in 8th grade. fred smith taught iowa history and civics. they really inspired me to go into a career in public service. and so from 8th grade, on, i went to ui and majored in political science, went to drake law school, ran for the

in drake law school so i kind of had my focus on serving in public office from a very early age and the opportunity just came along alongwhat was the importance of your work with the budget. budget. businesses look to invest in states that are well managed. when you're trying to sell a company on choosing your state...it's a world economy. they can choose another state. compare that to illinois. thye have the worst unfunded pension and the most state and local debt per capita. so things are likelyto get worse in illinois. in iowa, i like to say things are good and they're getting better. better.how does that

office? you've got to deal with whatever challenge comes your way. i had to deal with the flood of 1993, we had the plance crash in sioux city. probably the biggest and most difficult was the farm crisis of the 1980's. we had a farmer who killed his neighbor, he killed his wife and he killed his banker and he killed himself because he was so distressed by the farm crisis. we put together a farmer/lender mediation service, we put together a help hotline. i advocated for debt restructuring for agriculture debt and lobbied

restructuring. i feel that my job as governor is to be a strong advocate for the people of my state. somebody that they can trust and count on, to protect them. i know not everyone will agree with everything i do, but i try to be a good listener and represent their interest. interest. what goes into making the decision about 2018.

hard and accomplish as much as i can. i still have three years left. bob ray didn't make the decision until february until eleciton year not to run. i think i'll probably wait until election year. i've got a great partner in leutenant governor kim reynolds. i've encouraged her to do what i did as leutenant governor, be prepared to run for re election and if i decide not to run, then i think she should run for governor in 2018" in 2018" coming up next...gun control is sweeping through the presidential campaign trail. see how laws have changed over time -- and the specifics that

welcome back.this is the real

the time to give context to some of the events that will go on during the 2016 race for the white house.sometimes we'll have to go back a few days -- weeks or months -- or even years that are still relevant. relevant.today -- we look at the gun debate that's raging all across the united states. the debate over gun control tends to flare up in the wake of mass shootings.scenes like the shooting at a church in south carolina -- a planned parenthood in colorado -- umpqua community college in oregon -- and a military recruiting center in tennessee all come to mind just from the past few months.but it seemed like change might right around the corner after the shooting at sandy hook elentary school three years ago. "as a country we have been through this too many times....these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our childen and we're going to have to come togther and take meaningful action to do something about this regardless of the politics. politics.even with that mandate from the president -- no comprehensive gun

for nearly two centuries after the second ammendment was ratified in 1791 -- the few laws that *were made about guns were to regulate and limit their use. use.in 1934 -- the national firearms act targeted the kind of guns gangers used during prohibition.f-d-r was trying to get rid of machine guns and short barreled rifles and made it more expensive to make guns. a few years later -- more laws required special permission to sell guns over state lines. when john f. kennedy was assassinated by a gun bought through a mail order -- the gun control act required much more documentation of gun sales -- and kept some people -- like most convicted felons -- from buying guns at all. all this time -- the national rifle association existed -- it was formed in 1871 to help improve the marksmenship of civil war soldiers -- but wasn't spending much time on politics. politics.that changed in 1975 when the n-r-a creates it's lobbying wing -- and then again two years later when the

protecting second amendment rights.starting in 1986 with a law that restricted federal inspections of gun dealers -- the n-r-a started to fight back against the years of legislation that had only worked to limit gun sales and ownership.with time -- they and other pro-gun groups have spent a ton of money backing politicians and ensuring support. the center for responsive politics -- which runs open-secrets--dot--org -- keeps track of how much money is spent on both sides of the gun debate. debate.they say in 2013 and 2014 -- gun rights groups spent 31 million dollars either on lobbyists or in direct contributions to parties and candidates.by comparison -- gun control groups spent 4-point-5 million dollars. that kind of influence can even effect the kind of information that gets collected about gun violence in the first place.business insider reported that in the early 1990's -- the center for disease control was researching gun related injuries and deaths -- and was finding that more guns

chance of gun violence. violence.congressional republicans accused the organization of pursuing anti-gun research and eventually got 2-point-6 million dollars removed from the c-d-c budget -- that was exactly how much money was being spent on gun research. the c-d-c was forced to back off when congress restricted the centers' budget to make sure that none of the funds available can be used to "advocate or promote gun control".now -- the fear for many reserach organizations that depend on federal funding is that if they pick up where the c-d-c left off -- their money might be in danger too. "they terrorized people at the cdc. they terrorized researchers who said, 'wow, this is scary. i don't want my funding jeopardized." what that leaves -- even before the recent string of mass shootings over the past few months -- is different gun laws in different states. states.iowa is a shall issue state -- so as long as an applicant passes the proper certification class and a small list of requirements

each county sheriff is forced to grant a permit to carry a gun.other states give officials more discression -- allowing them to require additional steps -- like achieving a certain score on a allowed to carry. on the campaign trail -- the best way to stop mass shootings has split along party lines.republicans point out that a common denominator in all these shootings is generally mental health issues. issues.they say that means the united states should focus on treating people who need that kind of help better to keep them from ultimately becoming violent.democrats are much more likely to talk about holding gun manufacturors accountable for the violence their products cause -- and limiting the types of guns that are allowed to be carried -- as well as how many bullets are allowed in a single magazine. congress couldn't get enough support behind new legislation to limit gun ownership and sales.but certain governors and senators are calling for mroe power to be given to the states to take action.new york governor andrew cuomo and senator chuck schumer want

-- so that states can ban gun ownership to people already targetted as unfit to fly. connecticut governor dan malloy signed an executive order saying he'd do the same thing. amazingly enough, if you're on a terrorist watch list, you can buy a gun. gun.:it's time for right thinking people to stand up and say if somebody's done something that has them on the terrorism watch list, perhaps we should temporarily ban them from buying a gun or permanently ban them from buying a gun in a state like connecticut and that's what we want to do." even with those leaders stepping forward -- experts say it's not likely that many laws will change.it has to do -- partially -- with the money that gun rights groups spend on lobbying lawmakers -- but it also has to do with changing public perceptions. while many polls show that many people are in favor of background checks for gun purchases -- local gun store owners tell us that more people are going through the

after the break...the special promise that hillary clinton is keeping for a group of high

welcome back -- we'll close the show each week taking a look at what happened on social media... media...we put up a story on our website talking about how donald trump and ted cruz are neck and neck in the iowa polls. polls.becky says -- trump appears to be two-faced and is only telling people what they want to hear. i, for one, am not supporting him. i don't believe he's a true republican. republican.we also posted our one on one interview with governor branstad after he became the longest serving governor in u-s history. history.harold says -- give someone young an opportunity but shawn fired back -- lol haters gonna hate now -- we look at their voice -- what the candidates and their campaigns are posting on social media. media.after the republican debate -- the singer cher got into the political fray coming out pretty strong against ted cruz. cruz.this is her tweet -- she says he's the scariest kind of

true nature -- says he has a fake smile and then compares him to hitler. hitler.cruz came back -- killing her with kindness.he tweeted -- cher, thanks for the kind sentiments. and i wish you a merry christmas and a blessed new year. you can follow along on twitter and facebook all week long.see our interviews as we do them -- chime in with what you think -- send us your favorite pictures from events you go to. every week we'll end with the week ahead... ahead...it's a chance for you to see what different campaigns have scheduled -- and where you can see whichever candidate you want. want.former arkansas governor mike huckabee starts the week off in swisher at an iowa faith and freedom coalition house party in swisher.the next day -- hillary clinton makes good on her promise to visit keota high school.their sociology class launched a social media campaign to get her to come visit to address issues that small -- rural communities face in iowa.the sanders campaign also rolled out a trip through western iowa on monday and tuesday right before the christmas holiday. thanks for watchingbe sure to

focus. matt ryan, he's been struggling and the falcons, playoff hopes, they're slipping away and trying to keep them alive with a win over jacksonville today. also trying to keep his playoff hopes alive, eli manning, but he's had some experience

his career.