Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his Super PAC are continuing a media blitz at Des Moines’ top network TV stations, while other candidates and issue groups have gone off the airwaves.

Perry has spent $44,693 at KCCI, the local CBS affiliate, for ads running from Nov. 15 to Nov. 21. Since he began running ads in late October he’s spent $165,400 at KCCI and WHO, the local NBC affiliate.

And Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry Super PAC, spent $10,455 at KCCI for ads running from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23. The group has spent $58,581 at KCCI and WHO since it began running ads in early November.

The combined total for Perry’s campaign and Make Us Great Again puts pro-Perry spending past that of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Paul had been leading all candidates in spending on KCCI and WHO, but has no ads scheduled to run this week.

Paul has spent $190,313 at the two stations thus far; U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) hasn’t purchased ads at the stations since mid-August; and other candidates have yet to delve into the TV ad battle at the networks. Although it appears Herman Cain’s campaign is preparing to run ads at KCCI.

Crossroads GPS, which has so far spent $186,556 at KCCI and WHO on ads attacking U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Des Moines), has also stopped running ads.

False claims on Environmental Protection Agency regulations made in a Herman Cain ad aren’t worth responding to, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club says, claiming voters are smart enough to see through political rhetoric in the ad.

Herman Cain

But Steve Grubbs, Cain’s campaign chairman in Iowa, said Tuesday the campaign is more inclined to believe farmers when it comes to potential EPA regulations than the regulators themselves.

Maggie Kao, national press secretary for the Sierra Club, said she’s not surprised Cain’s campaign would run the ad.

“The fact of the matter is politicians buy ads all the time that are factually untrue,” Kao said. “I don’t think Herman Cain’s the first one to do that and I don’t think he’ll be the last. This is all to be expected from someone like Herman Cain who has complete disregard for the facts.”

Kao said most Americans would find it hard to believe that the EPA would worry about dust from farms when there are so many other concerns. She said that myth, along with the idea of regulating cow flatulence, “seems pretty far fetched to most people.”

“We’re not spending a lot of time pushing back on these myths simply because we think the American people are smarter than that and it’s a bit of an insult to even be talking about this non-issue,” Kao said.

Politicians have found it easy to put farmers against the EPA using scare tactics, Kao said. But polling shows most Americans are in favor of the work the agency does.

A nationwide survey from Public Policy Polling found support for EPA protections crosses party lines. The survey of 1,249 voters conducted in early October has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

The poll found 78 percent of people believe the EPA should protect air and water, including 62 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of independents. And 75 percent support the EPA overall, including 55 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of independents.

“It seems that there’s a very loud minority out there talking about the EPA in a negative way but that doesn’t jive with what we know from our own polling and experience talking to the American people,” Kao said.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Cumming) can count himself among the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, according to a USA Today analysis of financial disclosures of members of Congress.

Harkin has an estimated net worth of $16.6 million, putting him among the 57 members of Congress or 11 percent that are worth $9 million or more and thus in the wealthiest 1 percent.

The wealthiest 1 percent measurement has become popular in recent months as Occupy Wall Street demonstrators and others have begun referring to themselves as “the 99 percent,” decrying wealthy Americans and corporations they say aren’t paying their fair share in taxes.

Other members of the Iowa Congressional delegation aren’t included in the wealthiest 1 percent. U.S. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Ames) is worth $5 million; U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-New Hartford) is worth $3.2 million; and U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Des Moines) is worth $1 million.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (R-Mount Vernon) is worth $499,000; U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo) is worth $435,500; and U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Kiron) is worth $240,000.

The wealthiest members of Congress are U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), at $448.1 million; U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), at $380.4 million; and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), at $231.7 million (most of which is courtesy of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is worth $6.8 million; and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is worth $27.2 million.

House Speaker John Boehner is worth $4 million; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) is worth $101.1 million; and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is worth $5.4 million.

Net worth doesn’t include primary residences or other personal property.

A new poll from Bloomberg News shows likely Republican Iowa caucusgoers split four ways between Herman Cain, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

But perhaps the most interesting finding of the poll, conducted Nov. 10 to 12, is that 60 percent of respondents said they “could be persuaded” to support another candidate. And with seven weeks before the nation’s first presidential nominating contest, another 10 percent said they have “no first choice candidate.”

Just 29 percent said their “mind is made up” on who they’ll vote for to be the Republican nominee to take on President Obama.

Romney, the perceived national frontrunner, and others may also note just 14 percent of those polled voted for him in the 2008 caucuses, while 58 percent either voted for someone else or didn’t participate. Another 9 percent voted for Paul in 2008, further suggesting the race is wide open.

And Gingrich, who’s enjoying a surge in polling in Iowa and nationwide, may take some pause from the results as well. The poll found 48 percent of voters would rule out voting for a candidate that’s been married three times and had extramarital affairs.

But those polled also said social issues aren’t the most important factor: 24 percent said they are, compared to 71 percent who said fiscal issues are the most critical.

Those findings line up with the poor support measured for U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who have focused much of their message on social issues. Bachmann has 7 percent support in the poll, and Santorum has 6 percent.

The poll, conducted Nov. 10 to 12 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, includes 2,677 interviews with Iowa voters, 503 of which said they were likely to participate in the Jan. 3 caucuses. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Download full poll results here.

A bill recently introduced by congressmen from Pennsylvania and Illinois could have a far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest union workers on Aug. 1.

Members of Minnesota and North Dakota’s congressional delegations have repeatedly warned that the company’s lockout could help undermine the congressional consensus around protections for the sugar industry.

“There are members of Congress whose natural constituency is agriculture; some who see themselves as champions of business, and others who fight for workers,” U.S. Sen. Al Franken wrote in late August. “Knowing that the program has worked so well for so many years for the hardworking growers who produce such a large percentage of our nation’s sugar beets and for the dedicated workers and skilled management, who turn those beets into the highest quality sugar in the world, has played no small role in creating this consensus.”

Big Sugar has maintained support from Congress by continuously lining the campaign coffers of both Republicans and Democrats, although there is also a tangible discontent among industries that use sugar products, who find domestic prices to be too high. Those upset with American Crystal Sugar’s labor practices could join with these discontented industries to repeal the protections.

Enter U.S. Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) who introduced a bill that would protect the other sweet-tooth industries: candy companies that lie within their districts.

“We’ve heard from his constituents that the price of sugar is affecting business, it’s affecting jobs,” says Pitts spokesperson Andrew Wimer, who adds that Davis, the Chicago Democrat co-sponsoring the legislation, cites examples of factories that have shut their doors because of the high price of sugar.

The Free Market Sugar Act would repeal the sugar loan program and amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (known as the Farm Bill), perhaps the most important piece of legislation impacting U.S. sugar interests. Written every five years, the Farm Bill helps sugar growers with farm subsidies (which some dismiss as “corporate welfare”) and a series of quotas that tightly control the supply of imported sugar, a benefit to the handful of American sugar producers who pocket around $1 billion in excess profits a year, and a detriment to candy companies that buy U.S. sugar at prices two to three times higher than the global market rate.

Federal legislation also calls for the sugar program to be operated on a no-cost basis, a provision some sugar insiders project will remain for years to come.

“In general, [the Free Market Sugar Act] seeks to reform the sugar program so that the government is not controlling how much sugar is produced and imported,” says Wimer. ”It loosens the controls on production and importation, so that the U.S. price for sugar can be more closely aligned with the world price.”

In addition to amending the sugar price support program, the bill pushes for more transparency in the sugar industry, and an overhaul of how it does business. If enacted, the bill would replace quota import provisions with a tariff rate quota. “Right now the USDA is tightly controlling how much raw cane sugar comes into the U.S.,” says Wimer. “Instead of blanket eliminating quotas, we are modifying it so it’s not as unfair to the current market.”

Pitts and Davis have also recently announced the formation of the Congressional Sugar Reform Caucus, a bipartisan group that also includes Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Jean Shaheen (D-NH).

The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.

The television ad from Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, running statewide on the FOX News Channel, erroneously claims the EPA wants to regulate methane from cattle and dust from farming activities.

“If you have to choose between Iowa farmers and Washington regulators, we will defer to the opinions of the Iowa farmers,” said Steve Grubbs, who’s also a former state representative and Republican Party of Iowa chairman.

David Bryan, a spokesman for the EPA, said Monday “there’s no truth to that at all” when asked about the methane regulations. He also noted EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson wrote a letter to members of Congress dispelling the farm dust regulation rumors.

But Grubbs — and apparently Cain’s campaign — aren’t convinced by the EPA’s statements. Grubbs stopped short of saying the EPA is lying, instead saying it’s responding to existing regulations and not potential future regulations.

“This is a concern that farmers have about the future and farmers have been through this before where they’ve been told one thing by the EPA and had negative outcomes,” he said.

Grubbs hopes methane from cows and farm dust will continue to be unregulated. But he said Iowa farmers don’t believe that’s the case, and he doesn’t think it’s misleading to suggest to voters those regulations are coming.

“I don’t think it’s misleading,” Grubbs said. “If farmers believe that this is the near future for them, then why shouldn’t we believe them? Who knows agricultural regulation better, the EPA or the farmer? We believe the farmer does. It just depends on who you trust as your source.”

A television ad from Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, running statewide on radio and the FOX News Channel, erroneously claims the Environmental Protection Agency wants to regulate methane from cattle and dust from farming activities.

The ad features a number of farmers, one of which says the EPA wants to regulate methane coming from cattle.

“For thousands of years, 60 million buffalo roamed these prairies in Iowa,” one farmer says. “Who regulated them?”

EPA regional spokesman David Bryan told The Iowa Independent Monday that “there’s no truth to that at all.”

“There are a number of regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and different types of ambient air quality standards, but trying to say we’re putting a tax on emissions from cows is just a little ridiculous,” Bryan said.

Another claim in the ad, that the EPA wants to regulate dust on farms, is also a myth. Bryan said every five years the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to evaluate air standards, but EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson made it clear in a note to Congress that there is no intention to regulate dust on farms.

“You can’t plow a field without dust, you can’t drive down a gravel road without dust,” a farmer says in Cain’s ad. “My dog makes dust.”

The EPA focuses on regulating course particulates, Bryan said, such as dust from construction, demolition and industrial sites.

“We center our monitoring of air mostly on urban areas where it affects the most people,” he said. “We’re going to leave the dust standards where they are.”

Dean Kleckner, former head of the Iowa Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau, endorses Cain in the ad, saying, “He reminds me of Ronald Reagan, and I knew Ronald Reagan.”

“Over-regulation is killing the American farmer,” Kleckner says. “I think Herman Cain is the answer. Running a farm is a business and Herman Cain is a proven CEO.”

Bryan said the EPA has worked to counter the false claims that the EPA wants to regulate methane and dust, but not everyone is getting the message.

“What further method do we have other than you folks to say we don’t intend on doing this?” Bryan said.

Just 10 days out from the deadline of the super committee to make a deal, news outlets are reporting more reasons to worry that the talks will fall apart — and that congress may try other maneuvers to address the deficit.

As was to be expected after this summer’s debt-deal deadlock, members of the congressional super committee remain hung up on tax and entitlement reform.

Republicans and Democrats are divided by their respective plans, with each offering spending cuts and tax revenue increases. Republicans have offered a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction package with roughly $750 billion in spending cuts over the next decade and a $300 billion tax proposal mostly comprised of deduction eliminations. Democrats have offered to trim $2 trillion, with their proposal calling for an almost equal mix of spending cuts and tax increases. The committee was assigned to come up with $1.2 trillion in deficit savings.

The attention has turned to other recourse available to the committee to avoid the “trigger mechanism” — a fail-safe that would result in military and entitlement cuts in the case a deal is not made.

Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the panel’s Republican co-chair, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the super committee members may punt some of the decisions about deficit reduction to individual committees — “a two-step process,” as he described it. In that scenario, the super committee would set the amount of increased tax revenue to be met and individual congressional committees would then draft legislation to meet it.

The Chairmen of the relevant committees — the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee — have said that they would accept that arrangement, according to reporting this morning from the New York Times.

But even if no deal is struck and the “trigger” is pulled, there’s still reason to believe cuts can be avoided.

The trigger’s cuts do not go into effect until January 2013, so congress would have a year to mitigate.  It would also “launch a heavy lobbying effort on K Street, where defense firms, in particular, would be eager to prevent automatic cuts,” according to The Hill.

Senator Pat Toomey (D-PA) addressed that issue on “Fox News Sunday,” saying, “in the very, very unfortunate event that we don’t [make a deal] I think it’s very likely that Congress would reconsider the configuration.”

President Obama has told the committee that it needs to “bite the bullet,” and has floated the possibility that he may block any attempt to create a workaround from next week’s Thanksgiving deadline.

Closing 36 Iowa Workforce Development offices across the state and replacing them with computer terminals has meant greater access to services for Iowans while saving about $6.5 million, the head of the department and Gov. Terry Branstad say.

Year-to-year data show the number of services provided by IWD has increased by about 10,000 per month due to the new “virtual access points.” Those workstations, about 1,100 of them, are now available in 370 locations across the state.

The stand-alone computers allow services to be available 12 to 15 hours a day – including on Saturdays – through phone calls and Internet chat. They’re located primarily at libraries, places that provide veteran services, community colleges and state government buildings.

“Iowa Workforce Development has succeeded in developing a delivery system that serves Iowans locally and more efficiently while still providing professional workforce staff connections through the use of technology,” Branstad said.

Teresa Wahlert, head of IWD, said the goal is 500 computers by the end of the year. The remaining 19 physical offices – down from 55 at the beginning of the year – will remain open for the time being.

“I think that will be a constant for many months and then we’ll see what new technology happens or what happens on the federal side,” Wahlert said. “Because the federal side really dictates a lot of the offices and their locations.”

In August, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack explained that a cooperative agreement between the U.S. departments of agriculture and labor will provide some opportunities for rural workers, but the effort wouldn’t serve as a replacement for shuttered IWD offices.

Wahlert said she’s not concerned about less face-to-face interaction between IWD employees and job searchers, and the success of the program will be judged on usage and how much it costs IWD to get a person to a job.

Plans are for 75 people to be laid off from the state agency as the move from physical offices to virtual access points is completed.

“We’re going into a generation of folks who are a lot more comfortable either on the phone or texting or using technology, and I think that’s pretty evident with the results we’ve had so far,” Wahlert said.

A lawsuit challenging Branstad’s veto of funding for the workforce offices is working its way through the court system, but Branstad is confident he’ll beat that.

“In the meantime, instead of fighting the battles of the past, we want to look to the future and make sure we’ve got a delivery system that meets the needs of Iowans in the best and most efficient and economical way possible,” he said.

Democratic lawmakers have pledged to fight for the now closed offices in the 2012 General Assembly.

A total of 28 telephone utilities have been given federal money to build and expand broadband access in rural service territories that span portions of Iowa and 17 additional states.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo made the announcement Monday morning during an annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in St. Louis.

In a following statement, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Today’s funding will provide residents of these rural communities with high speed internet connections to improve health care and educational opportunities and connect to global markets. In addition to providing much needed services to rural businesses and residents, these investments will increase jobs, not just in the near term, but through expanded opportunities in rural areas.”

The USDA provided three examples of how the funding would improve quality of life for rural residents. In Minnesota, they said, Rural Development Broadband Loan Program funds will be used to extend Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative’s existing Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) network to serve rural communities in north-central portions of the state. The program will offer service to more than 45,710 households and businesses through a company that has been operating since 1952.

In North Dakota, the funds will expand Polar Communications Mutual Aid Corporation’s broadband system throughout 18 exchanges to provide voice, video and high-speed data systems. When the project is completed, all of Polar’s subscribers will have access to broadband.

Perry-Spencer Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc., based in Indiana, will begin the process of designing and building broadband services to its 5,711 subscribers spread over 1,148 miles.

USDA is providing $478.6 million in funding to companies that meet eligibility requirements. Companies slated to receive funding, by state, are:

Colorado

• Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Association, Inc.–$18,725,000 will be used to upgrade the existing fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network, capable of providing modern broadband services to subscribers in 10 exchanges.

Idaho and Utah

• Albion Telephone Company–$17,075,000 in loan funds will be used to install 453 miles of buried fiber optic cables throughout the proposed FTTP system, providing nearly 60 percent of subscribers with FTTP.

Illinois

• McNabb Telephone Company–$3,700,000 in loan funds will be used to make system improvements, including constructing new FTTP facilities. A total of 115 miles of buried fiber optic cable will be deployed to improve service to subscribers.
• Shawnee Telephone Company–$30,286,000 in loan funds will be used to construct FTTP facilities, allowing Shawnee to provide voice and data services at speeds of up to 100 Mbps to both residences and businesses.
• McDonough Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$15,728,000 in funds will be used to upgrade the rural areas with FTTH technology. Approximately 766 miles of buried fiber cable will be deployed to provide over half of the subscribers with access to improved broadband service. McDonough has been serving its rural subscribers for over 60 years.
• Wabash Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$21,867,000 will be used to install 777 miles of buried fiber optic cables and related equipment throughout the proposed FTTP system. The FTTP system will enhance service to 70 percent of Wabash’s subscribers.

Indiana

• Perry-Spencer Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$29,139,000 in loan funds have been awarded to Perry-Spencer Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc., (PSC) which provides telecommunications services to nearly 6,000 subscribers over approximately 1,150 square miles in southern Indiana. This loan will enable PSC to start the process of designing and building FTTP to enhance broadband services across the service area.

Iowa

• Mediapolis Telephone Company–$13,401,000 in loan funds will be used to make system upgrades to the transport system and the network architecture from the existing copper Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) to FTTP broadband systems.
• Griswold Cooperative Telephone Company–$12,747,000 in loan funds will be used to complete a system-wide FTTP network, enhancing broadband service to all subscribers.
• La Porte City Telephone Company–$9,867,000 in loan funds will be used to make system improvements, including installation of a FTTP broadband network that will serve all of the borrower’s subscribers. A total of 297 miles of buried fiber optic cable will be deployed, enabling downstream data rates of up to 20 Mbps.

Kansas

• The S & T Telephone Cooperative Association–$29,814,000 will be used to implement a full FTTH design to allow the migration to 10-20 Mbps broadband speeds to all subscribers and to provide IPTV in the near future.

Minnesota

• Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative–$19,749,000 in Rural Development Broadband Loan Program funds will be used to extend Paul Bunyan’s existing FTTH network to serve the exchanges of Park Rapids Rural and Trout Lake in North Central Minnesota. With this extension of their network, Paul Bunyan will be able to provide advanced telecommunications services to over 45,710 establishments (households and businesses) across all service areas. Paul Bunyan has been operating since 1952 and has been a telecommunications borrower with the Rural Utilities Service since 1953.

Nebraska

• The Hemingford Co-operative Telephone Company–$10,280,000 will be used to upgrade the outside plant with optic cable, fiber optic drops and FTTP equipment. These funds will add 377 fiber miles of fiber optic cable.

New Mexico

• Roosevelt County Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$12,358,000 will be used to deploy new equipment and install FTTP equipment to enhance the broadband network.

North Dakota

• BEK Communications Cooperative–$26,746,000 in loan funds will be used to expand a FTTH broadband system. Upon completion of this RUS-funded project, 100 percent of BEK’s subscribers will be served by fiber.
• SRT Communications, Inc.–$24,832,000 in loan funds will be used to install 2,143 miles of buried fiber optic cable and related equipment throughout the proposed FTTP system. The FTTP system will be constructed in areas outside of towns in twelve of the borrower’s twenty-six exchanges. The service areas in the towns will continue to be offered DSL at speeds of at least 55 Mbps with its relatively new copper plant.
• Polar Communications Mutual Aid Corporation–$32,939,000 in loan funds will be used to expand the Borrower’s FTTP broadband system throughout the borrower’s eighteen exchanges. The upgraded system will help meet current and future requirements for delivery of voice, video and high speed data to subscribers. Upon completion of this RUS-funded project, 100 percent of Polar’s subscribers will be served with broadband via various technologies.

Oklahoma

• Terral Telephone Company–$4,855,000 in loan funds will be used to convert the existing copper network to a FTTH system, and connect new subscribers. The proposed FTTH deployment includes construction of over 62 miles of fiber plant in and around Terral, and the replacement of the existing softswitch and power plant. This FTTH deployment will create nine jobs and save seven jobs.

South Carolina

• Sandhill Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$5,930,000 will be used to provide for system improvements, including purchase of a new switch.

Tennessee

• North Central Telephone Cooperative Corporation–$27,069,000 will be used to upgrade portions of North Central’s outside plant and network infrastructure by deploying a FTTP network.

Washington

• Inland Telephone Company–$24,823,000 in loan funds will be used to expand Inland’s FTTP broadband system and connect new subscribers.
• The Toledo Telephone Co., Inc.–$18,091,000 in loan funds will be used to install 292 miles of buried fiber optic cables and related equipment throughout the proposed FTTP system, offering enhanced service to all Toledo subscribers.

Wisconsin

• Union Telephone Company–$13,308,000 in loan funds will enable Union to deploy approximately 336 miles of fiber, which will provide approximately 60 percent of Union’s subscribers with access to improved broadband services.
• Marquette-Adams Telephone Cooperative, Inc.–$19,781,000 Marquette-Adams will use loan funds to complete a system-wide FTTP network, including over 370 miles of new or modified buried fiber, providing enhanced broadband service to all subscribers.
• Vernon Telephone Cooperative–$24,143,000 in loan funds will be used to install 1,206 miles of buried fiber optic cables and related equipment throughout the proposed FTTP system. The FTTP system will offer enhanced broadband service to 90 percent of subscribers.

Wyoming and Colorado

• Dubois Telephone Exchange, Inc.–$11,391,000 in loan funds will be used to expand the FTTP system to provide video and data services over an optic network with speeds up to 100 Mbps. Included in this loan is $9,462,000 for construction and engineering in Wyoming and $1,929,000 for construction and engineering in Colorado.