Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/622651
ByVivianSalama and Scott Bauer The Associated Press BOONE, IOWA From Iowa to New Hampshire — on the air, on the bus and on the stump — candidates vying to become America's next president roared out of the holidays in full force Monday with less than a month to go before voting begins. The coming weeks are especially crucial for Re- publicans as voters look to weed through the thicket of choices to determine who will represent and at- tempt to reunite a bicker- ing party. This, as conten- tious issues over terrorism, security, civil liberties and gun ownership reverberate, giving candidates plenty to argue about. Democrat Hillary Clin- ton and Republican Don- ald Trump have been the consistent favorites in polls overall. But they are not equal in that regard. Clinton also has an im- pressive organization be- hind her while Trump's ability to pull off a winning ground game is in question and his frugal spending to date has stood in stark contrast to his vast per- sonal wealth. He says he's opening the money spigot now. Early voting is often deemed critical in races, like this one, when the path to a nomination is so un- clear. As mystery shrouds the Republican race, the Democratic one hangs on whether Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist sena- tor from Vermont, can turn his months of large, pas- sionate rallies into enough votes to upset the former first lady. In Iowa, the first of the early voting states, Repub- lican contender Ted Cruz was set to launch his bus tour through the state where his campaign feels he is well-positioned to win. Cruz called on Iowa vot- ers to bring nine of their friends and family mem- bers with them to vote for him in the Feb. 1 cau- cuses. Cruz made the plea Monday in the first of 28 planned stops in Iowa over the next six days. "Now is the time that the men and women of Iowa step up and make your de- cision," Cruz said during his stop in Boone, Iowa. Second-time Republican hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, also set out in Iowa on Monday, holding breakfast meetings and town halls across the state as he looks to turn his campaign's sluggish start around.. Clinton also kicked off a two-day swing in Iowa, where she was scheduled to attend several organiz- ing events in preparation for the caucuses. In New Hampshire, former Presi- dent Bill Clinton launched his own tour on behalf of his wife, talking both about Hillary Clinton's campaign promises and his own expe- rience in the White House. Sanders also cam- paigned Monday in New Hampshire, which votes Feb. 9. In 2008, Hillary Clin- ton suffered a stringing defeat in Iowa, rebounded with a win in New Hamp- shire and waged a grinding campaign across the coun- try before Barack Obama claimed victory in the nom- ination race on his way to the presidency. Trump sought to de- rail his rivals Monday, debuting his first televi- sion ad in both Iowa and New Hampshire, featuring dark images of the San Ber- nardino, California, shoot- ers, body bags, and images of masked men. The ad reinforced highly criticized remarks he made last month proposing a temporary ban on Muslims looking to enter the United States, which sparked out- rage from Republican and Democratic rivals alike. The comments threat- ened the party's drive to attract minorities, an ef- fort already complicated by Trump's negativity to- ward Mexican immigrants. Trump says he plans to spend at least $2 million per week on television ads in Iowa and New Hamp- shire overall. He was heading to Mas- sachusetts late Monday be- fore catching up to many of the other candidates flood- ing into New Hampshire this week. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's presidential campaign kicked off the new year by hiring several new people in New Hamp- shire, where his campaign is banking on a strong fin- ish to propel his campaign forward. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, by contrast, currently has 20 full-time paid staffers in the state and plans to grow that number at least to 40 in coming weeks. Republican Carly Fio- rina also kicked off 2016 in New Hampshire on Mon- day, contending that Re- publicans want to see her debate Clinton, "because you know what's going to happen: I'm going to win." 2016 With early voting approaching, candidates swing into motion ERICSCHULTZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The crowd surges to greet Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a er he spoke in Birmingham, Ala. In less than a month, voters will begin casting their ballots in what could turn out to be a bitter, months-long fight for the Republican nomination. By Josh Lederman The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama moved Mon- day to expand background checks to cover more guns sold at gun shows, online and anywhere else, aiming to curb a scourge of gun vio- lence despite unyielding op- position to new gun laws in Congress. Obama's plan to broaden background checks forms the centerpiece of a broader package of measures the president plans to take on his own on gun control in his final year in office. Al- though Obama can't uni- laterally change gun laws, the president is hoping that beefing up enforcement of existing laws can prevent at least some gun deaths in a country rife with them. "This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country," Obama said. Still, he added, "It will poten- tially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses." Under current law, only federally licensed gun deal- ers must conduct back- ground checks on buyers, but many who sell guns at flea markets, on websites or other informal settings don't register as dealers. Gun control advocates say that loophole is exploited to skirt the background check requirement. Now, the Justice Depart- ment's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- plosives will issue updated guidance that says the gov- ernment should deem any- one "in the business" of sell- ing guns to be a dealer, re- gardless of where he or she sells the guns. To that end, the government will consider other factors, in- cluding how many guns a person sells and how fre- quently, and whether those guns are sold for a profit. The executive actions on gun control fall far short of what he and likeminded lawmakers attempted to ac- complish with legislation in 2013, after a massacre at a Connecticut elemen- tary school that shook the nation's conscience. Even still, the more modest mea- sures were sure to spark a confrontation with Republi- cans and gun rights groups that oppose new impedi- ments to buying guns. "We're very comfortable that the president can le- gally take these actions now," said Attorney Gen- eral Loretta Lynch. Farfrommandatingback- ground checks for all gun sales, the new guidance still exempt collectors and gun hobbyists, and the exact definition of who must reg- ister as a dealer and conduct background checks remains exceedingly vague. The ad- ministration did not issue a number for how many guns someone must sell to be con- sidered a dealer, instead say- ingitplannedtoremindpeo- ple that courts have deemed people to be dealers in some cases even if they only sell a handful of guns. And the background check provision rests in the murky realm of agency guidelines, which have less force than full-fledged fed- eral regulations and can easily be rescinded. Many of the Republican presidential candidates running to suc- ceed Obama have vowed to rip up his new gun restric- tions upon taking office. In an attempt to prevent gun purchases from falling through the cracks, the FBI will hire 230 more examin- ers to process background checks, the White House said. The FBI has a comput- erized system that can pro- cess background checks for many in seconds. But in instances where the FBI needs more time, the government only has three days before prospec- tive buyers can return and buy the gun without being cleared. The White House also said it planned to ask Con- gress for $500 million to im- prove mental health care, and pledged to move for- ward with efforts to keep guns out of the hands with people deemed unsuitable because of mental illness. The Obama administration also plans to complete a rule long in the works to close a separate loophole that ex- empts guns purchased by trusts or corporations from background checks. Obama planned to an- nounce the new measures at an event at the White House on Tuesday as he continued a weeklong push to promote the gun effort and pushing back on its critics. EXECUTIVE ACTION Obama moves on background checks for gun sales PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday during a meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. By Richard Lardner, Eileen Sullivan and Meghan Hoyer The Associated Press WASHINGTON The chil- dren of service members are sexually assaulted hun- dreds of times each year, according to data the De- fense Department pro- vided exclusively to The Associated Press. The abuse of military dependents is commit- ted most often by male enlisted troops, the data show, followed by family members. The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children commit- ted by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transpar- ency into the military's le- gal proceedings. With more than 1 million military de- pendents, the number of cases appears statistically small. But for a profession that prides itself on honor and discipline, any episodes of abuse cast a pall. Those numbers fall well- short of a full picture. Ages of the offenders and victims, locations of the in- cidents and the branch of service that received the report of sexual abuse were omitted. The Defense De- partment said in a state- ment that "information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible 're-vic- timization' of the innocent." It's also unclear how many of the incidents re- sulted in legal action. The cases represent substanti- ated occurrences of child sexual abuse reported to the Defense Department's Family Advocacy Program, which does not track judi- cial proceedings, the de- partment said. An AP investigation pub- lished in November found more inmates are in mil- itary prisons for child sex crimes than for any other offense. But the military's opaque justice system keeps the public from know- ing the full extent of their crimes or how much time they spend behind bars. Responding to AP's find- ings, three Democratic sen- ators have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the mili- tary justice system's "cloak of secrecy" and make re- cords from sex crimes tri- als readily accessible. The senators also raised another concern. Cases in- volving children are not in- cluded in the Defense De- partment's annual report to Congress on sexual as- saults, which focuses pri- marily on adult-on-adult incidents, they said. There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of mil- itary dependents being sex- ually abused between fis- cal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. En- listed service members sex- ually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases. Most of the enlisted of- fenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for exam- ple, those troops are cor- porals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were in- volved in 49 of the cases. The victims were over- whelmingly female. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DATA Military kids sexually abused hundreds of times each year 714WalnutSt.,RedBluff Your One Stop Convenience Store ONE STOP More Than Just a Gas Station! 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