focus of the year -- the barnstorm today runs through almost everything that happened out on the campaign trial during 2015. just four months after iowans elected republican joni ernst to the senate and sent republican rod blum to congress in the first district in 2014 -- it was time to start the campaign season all over again. again.texas senator ted cruz was the first candidate to officicily start his campaign for the white house in march. in the beginning of april -- he showed up in cedar rapids fothe first time -- talking a lot about the battle between the major political parties over religious libebey. "unfortunately today, the modern democratic party is more interested in partisan politics a an extreme partisan suport for mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states than it is in protecting the first amendment rights of every american after thth -- april l w rand paul -- hillary y clinton --

race.but the storylines back then were as much about the candidates not officially decalred as it was about who was campaigning.many voters were waiting until wisconsin governor scott walker got into the race.then -- at the end of april -- we sat down with donald trump on his airplane. he hadn't announced if he run or yet -- and talked about what it might look like if it he enter the race. "where do voters find the break between donald trump the entertainer and tv show host and donald trump the potential politician?" politician?""i don't know. it's a greatatquestion. . d i've always said its very hard for a person of great success, i've done many many deals, i've been tremendously successful, i've beaten a lot of people, that means i have a lot of enemies. so i don't know if that translates into votes. it's alot easier if i did nothing but i looked good and i sounded nice but i did nothing because then there's nothing they can attack me on." on."back then -- kentucky senator rand paul was the only republican who beat hillary clinton when the two of them were matched up in head to head polls. may saw six more candidates

in -- including outsiders ben carson and carly fiorina and demcorat martin o'malley. democrat elizabeth warren ruled out running in 2016. 2016.iowans got one of their early looks at dr. ben carson - - and soon after -- hillary clinton.but it was out in des moines at the lincoln dinner where republican voters got a chance to see a ton of candidates -- and potential candidates take the stage all in one spot. "some of us would like a gogornment that minds s s own business." business."every blue collar worker in the nation ought to be standing up and saying, 'i'm voting for the republicans because they're going toaise my wages." wages."people are suffering and this enomic policy is pitiful. in june -- six more candidates jumped in -- including jeb bush -- donald trump and chris chrisite. chrisite.the first time that iowans got a chance to s s trtrp as an official candidide was when he came to des moines right after making his big announcement in new york city. that night -- a lot of voters didn't really know what to expect. "ihink the trump effect, i guess you could say, will

will gravitate towards it and i think, you konw what, if we hear his message and we agree with his message, they're going to support him 100% even if he is the flashy candidatat this is the moment we'e' all been waiting for. i don'n' think anyone has really taken him completely serious and i think that some of us are still a little bit skeptical in how serious he is about running and actualal becoming a true candidate. with july came the much- awaited entry of scott walker into the race for 2016.he had been visiting iowa quite a bit -- but waited until wisconsin's leleslative session was over before he officially jumped in. in.but many candidates and voters were talking about what the supreme court did at the end of the month before.in two separate rulings -- the cocot ruled that same sex couples have the right to marry -- and upheld the right for americans in all states to get subsidies to cover their insurance payments in the affordable care act. it's going to become an increasingly important issue because people will realize this was not a decision about marriage equality, this was a

the law was pretty clear that only states could give subsidies and now the federal government is giving subsidies so i think the court was wrong with this and it was really another disappointment that justice roberts seemed to be on the other side of the law here. soon after -- we also sat down with hillary clinton -- and talked about an issue that she wawataking a lot of heat for at the time -- the scandal surrounding her private email server as secretary of state. state. was the percieved convenience worth the cklash? backlash?you know i just did it for convenience. you're 100% right. and i'm not the most tech friendly person most of my important communications were done face to face, they were ne in meetings. if i had known this was going to be such a big deal, look, secretary powell did exactly the same thing. thing.just a few months later -- she'd be talking about her emails again in a marathon congressional hearing.g. the summer heat in august brought the first debate --

cleveland.but in iowa -- voters got a heavy mix of politics at the state fair -- along with their frieieeos d pork chops.donald trump and hillary clinton opted not to talk on the des moines register soapbox stage -- but nearly all the other candidates did.by then -- trump and ben carson were fighting for ththtop spot in the polls -- but chris christie and scott walker were fighting with protestors on stage. "again. unintimidated. i am not intimidated by you sir or anyonenelse out there. i will fight for the american people over and over and over again. in september -- we saw rick perry and the one-e-me front nner scott walkererrop out. out.but most people will remember that month being the last chapter in the kim davis debate.she was a county clerk inentucky who refused to issue e marriagegelicences to anyone because she didn't agree with the supreme court decision granting gay marriage rights.she got out of jail on september 8th -- but still

-- so her deputies gave them out. "i don't want to be in the spotlight. and i certainly don't want to be a whipping post. i am no hero. i just want to serve my neighbors quietly without violating my conscience. in october -- the democrats debated for the first time -- and vice president joe biden announced that hi would officially *not run for the white house. house.after r at -- hillary clinton had to take a break from the campaign trail to head to congress to testify about how she handled the benghazi attack in 2012. evevybody else w w responsible for everything else what were you responsible for? for?i was responsible for sending chris stevens to benghazi as an envoy. i was repsonsible for supporting a temporary mission that we were constantly evaluatatg. i s responsible for quite a bit congressman, but i was not responsible for specific security requests and decisions. the e nal two months of the year saw a lot of the

control.a gunman in colorado attacked a planned parenthood and killed three people there. that attacker acted alone.then just days later -- 14 people died in an attack in san bernardino where a husband and wife team appeared to self-radicalize and planned their terror attack.that sparkeh a big discuson -- across both parties -- about how effective gun legislation would be. "we need bomb control, because these people were building bombs. we need terrorist control this is what we should be focused on. 2015 also had it's fair share of fireworks on the local level. the 2015 legislative session ended with some fireworks -- and almost got extended. tended.at the very end -- both parties came together with an agreement to increase funding for schools in iowa. governor branstad vetoed it -- because it used one-time money for on-going expenses -- cutting education budgets across the state.e.certain mental health facilites across the state are also in limbo after federal funding was removed. towas the very end the

working hard to get his medicaid modernization initiative implimented -- which would have handed the entire iowa medicaid program over to four private companies. companies.democrats and many people on mediaid said there's no way the state would be ready for the plan to go into effect on january first -- as planned.federal investigators from the centers for medicaid and medicare services looked into it -- and agreed -- pushing the implimentation back two months to mch first. then -- a few daysysater -- the ate dropped one of the four private companies for not disclosing information about fraud and mismanagement.the governor says the three remaining companies are enough to handle the more than four billion dollar state medicaid program. but on a lighter note -- before we reached the end of the year -- governor branstad became the longest serving governor in united states history.his cumulative 21 years in office passes new york state's firsrsgovernor -- george clinton -- who helped fight in the revolutionary war and left office in 1804. 1804.

36 you re when you were elected and the 69 year olol you are today"i would say i've gained patience and i've learned perserverence. you can't take criticism personally. you have to recognize u have to cognize that because of hte position i'm in, there are always going to be people attacking or criticizing. but i want to ocus on the future and i want to make things better. after the break...we take a look back at some of the most interesting moments our sit down intervie with canidates from both major polilical

throughout throughout the 2015 campaign -- we've had a number of one on one interviews with candidates where we've asked them about their own campaigns and current events at the time. this week -- while we're looking back at the race in 2015 -- we have some of the most interesting moments from those interviews so far -- and

still to come...we take a look at some e the biggest fact checks of the 2015 -- and see how they hold up under the

welcome back..this is the real story -- we're going to take the time to give context to some of the events that will go on during the 2016 race for the white house. house.this week -- while we look back at 2015 -- we take you through some of the biggest fact checks of the 2016 campaign. we start with a line that florida senator marco rubio had been throwing out at a lot of his town hall events.rubio is pushqng easier access to vocational training pretty hard. hard.he's makes thehepoint that college isn't always for everyone -- and instead of some students taking out huge loans to pay for college -- only to underperform or drop out -- it might be a much better use of time and

have access to trade school early on.rubio got into hot water though when he made this very specific claim on the trail -- and then in a debate too. "welders makakmore than philosophers. we need more welders and less philosophers." this is hard to navigate exactly because there aren't many people people who actually call themselves philosophers -- but politifact looked at people who majored d in philosophy in college -- and then looked at how much those people made.they then compared that to the money a welder makes -- and found that the philosophers actually made somewhwhe around 85-thousand dollars -- compared to the welders 38-thousand. from what we've seen -- that specific line is gone from his speeches.this is what has replaced it. it. i don't know why we stopopd teachingngeople to work with their hands in this country. but we need more welders, plumbers, pipefitters, machinists, electricians, air plane mehanics, car technicians, and w e can teach people to do that work while they're still in high schoolol the original statement about welders and philosophers is

the campaign pivoted enough to save the underlying message about what they're trying to sarubio raises a valid point that collegegesn't the right move for everyone -- but making that point with starting salaries just doesn't seem to be entirely true. this next one is ironic -- it shows a way in which the citizen's united supreme court ruling - -which openededhe door to the creation of super pacs -- is actually benefitting bernie sanders -- who strongly feels that super pacs shouldn't be in politics. he's said from the start that he doesn't want a super pac and doens't have one. one.his rationale is that he wants to raise his money from individual and small contributions.it would make him beholden to no one if he gets elected. "we will be outspent. when you establish a super pac and that is a wide open door for millionaires and billionaires to write out a check for five million bucks or ten million dollars, i can't compete with that. . t up until now, we have recieved individual

thousand americans. that is more an barack obama recieved, more than any candidate in american history at this point in a campaign has recieved. recieved.the problem for the sanders campaign is billboards like this one in waterloo. there's a a similar one in cedar rapids just down the road from broadcast park -- where we work.it's paid for by a super pac called national nurses united for patient protection -- which is obviously a group that nts to pay for bill boards supporting bernie sanders -- even though he's publicly stated he doesn't want the help of groups like this one. the thing is -- the distance between super pacs and candidates that campais are sometimemeaccused of tampering with is the same distance that prevents sanders from having any influence over the group. in the same way that some candidates are accused of trying to give their per pacs cues throughghwhwh they say on tv or on radio programs -- sanders can say he doesn't want super pac support all he wants -- but theyan keep

in a campaign of inflamatory statements -- one of donald trump's most memorable ones 9/11. "i watched in jersey city new jersey ere thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. the problem for trump is that there hasn't bn a video in the untied states that proves at there were celebrations in the streets like he's claiming.what muddies the waters are some of the articles that politfact tracked down -- that say there are unconfirmed rumors a a about cecebrations on rooftops -- but nothing approaching thousands of people.for trump -- that was small enough piece to double down on. on."so i have some good people and they check and they checked and believe me, its been cleared off." off."dr. ben cars even said he saw the footage too before his campaign said he was referring to different videos. at the end of the day -- essentially all fact-checking reports say that trump's

celebrations simply didn't happen.this is part of a much larger trenentrtrp may be grabbing headlines -- but of the 77 statements checked out by politifact -- about 60- percent of them are rated false or pants onire -- even worse than false.only six statements of the 77 are rated mostly true or true. our last one is also one of the moststrecent.ininhe latest democrat debate -- hillary clinton was talking about some of that same inflamatory language that's coming from donald trump -- and how she says it's bei used overseas. "we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that trump is sending around the world doesn't fall on receptive ears. he is becoming isis' best recruitete they are going to people showing videos of donald trump insulting islam and muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadidis. a strict interpretation of that statement is hard to

far.but -- the effect abroad of trumps' rhetoric about muslims in the united states is something g that's been documented in publications like the new york times -- washington post and through postings on social media of suspected terrorist accounts. accounts. "and if you u on arabic tv as we have and you look at what is being blasted out with video of mr. trump being translated into arabic, no muslims coming to the untied states, other kinds of derogotory and defamatory statements, it is playing into the hands of the violent jihadists. there is nothing they want more than to be able to claim that the united states is against islam and against muslims. after the break...we lighten it up a little bit -- and take a look at the best political

now -- we look now -- we look at their voice for 2015 -- it's the best of what the candidates and their campaigns have posted on social media. medidiit's no secret that technology is becoming a bigger part of the campaign season -- that also means that campaigns are posting videos just to the web to tweet out and share on facebook.after donald trump gave lindsey graham's cell phone n nber out to the public -- he couldn't keep it anymore... anymore......so he made a video about how he would destroy it.he puts it in a blender -- hits it with a bat and golf club until there's no chance it's usable anymorere early in the campaign -- ted cruz decided he would try to audition for the simpsons -- so he uploaded this video of his impressions of mpsons characters.. characacrs.the thing is -- he's actully pretty good - take a listen. listen.

fray.he was one of the early candidates talking about simplifying the tax code -- so he decided to show voters just how much he hated the thousands of pages worth of tax code that exists rrht now -- by taking a chain saw to it -- putting it through a woodchipper -- you get the point.he told us it's a no brainer to do that kind of video -- young voters are much more likely to watch something g like t tt you can follow along on twitter and facebook all week long.s our interviews as we do them -- chihe 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 the cpaigns are up tthis week -- we're looking at dates to keep in mind for 2016. 2016.tt first big date for iowans is february first -- the iowa caucus.after that -- eight different states will have their primaries throughout the month of february.that all leads up to super tuesday -- where many states wililhave their primaries -- and we'll have a much better idea about who might represent both parties in the general election.next summer -- both parties have they'll pick their nominee for

e general election on november 8th -- 2016. thanks for watchingbe sure to tune in next week to get the clear facts on iowa in focus. focus. facts on iowa you got people working incredibly long hours. median family income today -- $4,000 less than it was in 1999. the bottom line of this economy is that it is rigged. what this campaign is about is to demand that we create an economy that works for all of us raraer than a handfullof billionaires. if you work 40 hours a week in america, you should not live in poverty.