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By Times staff | Saturday, August 18, 2007 12:00 AM CDT | () comments

Democrats debate

Democratic presidential candidates will gather Sunday morning in Des Moines for a nationally televised debate.

The 90-minute debate will be broadcast live on ABC at 8 a.m. as part of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

The debate will be moderated by Stephanopoulos, with additional questions from Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen.

Scheduled to participate are Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

Obama on farm bill

Democrat Barack Obama is calling for a new federal farm bill that would help family farmers rather than wealthy corporate farms.

He convened a rural summit in Tama Friday, where he heard from rural policy experts and Iowans.

Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said he is in favor of lowering payment limits for farm subsidies to $250,000 per year and reducing the number of multimillionaires eligible for farm subsidies.

Obama said that over the past decade, the government has handed out $1.3 billion in federal farm money to people who aren’t farmers, including some Fortune 500 companies.

“It’s time for us to make some changes to the Farm Bill so we spend fewer resources subsidizing corporate megafarms and more time and resources supporting family farmers and rural America,” Obama said in a statement.

Clinton education

Hillary Clinton announced that 38 of her supporters will serve as her Iowa Education Leadership Council.

According to the Clinton campaign, the group is made up of Iowans who are supporting Clinton because of her record on education issues.

The list includes many prominent Iowans who have already announced their support for Clinton, such as Rep. Roger Wendt of Sioux City, chairman of the Iowa House Education Committee.

“I am honored to have the support of these incredible Iowa educators in our effort to repair our struggling education system,” Clinton said in a statement.

The group includes the following local residents:

-- Dona Bark, DeWitt, past president and current vice president of the Central Community School District Board of Directors; past PTA president of the Central Community School District.

-- Peggy Gustafson, Davenport, middle school teacher; member of ISEA and DEA Executive Board.

-- Cindy Winckler, Davenport, state representative; co-chair of the Education Budget Subcommittee; quality learning consultant for Mississippi Bend AEA; Iowa College Student Aid commissioner.