A collection of recent Fact Checkers from this campaign season

The Gazette's Fact Checker team checked more than two dozen statements from presidential candidates and their surrogates since July 1.

The good news is more than half the claims got As and Bs for being true or mostly true. A few others were technically true, but so misleading they were downgraded. Others were plain old whoppers.

On the eve of Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, The Gazette has gathered most of these checks in one place for those Eastern Iowans who haven't made up their minds yet about which candidate to support.

We've included excerpts, in alphabetical order, of the three most recent checks for all candidates still in the race. Attack ads by Super PACS are at the end. Go to www.thegazette/factchecker for the full list.

Keep in mind, the Fact Checker criteria requires claims be verifiable and that they be about

Iowa, said by an Iowa politician or contained in a political ad running in Eastern Iowa. So there are more checks about some candidates than others.

Ben Carson

'At $10 million a day for 5,000 years (U.S. debt) still won't be repaid' — B

Calculations shows $10 million a day for 5,000 years adds up to $18.25 trillion, which would not pay off the $18.4 trillion Carson cited, but would pay off the actual debt of almost $18.2 trillion.

Hillary Clinton

'Drug prices doubled' — C

Clinton claimed prescription drug prices doubled since 2008. Express Scripts shows those numbers relate to only specialty drugs. Another claim in the same ad said seven of 10 Americans are on prescription drugs, supported by a Mayo Clinic study.

'Federal government making a profit lending to young people' — D

There are conflicting government reports on whether the feds make money by lending to students. But the fair-value approach, favored by many economists, says the government actually will lose money.

'CEOs making 300 times average worker' — A

Clinton is cherry picking statistics that highlight chief executive officers at only the top 1 percent of companies rather than all CEOs, but her numbers are right for that top group.

Ted Cruz

Trump's 'poll numbers are falling in Iowa' — F

Republican front-runner Donald Trump's Iowa poll numbers had been steadily climbing from mid-December to mid-January when Cruz made the false claim at a GOP debate.

''How many people are frustrated with Republican leaders?' Every hand goes up.' — F

To imply all Iowans attending Cruz's recent events are sick of Republican leaders — except Cruz, apparently — is unsupported. We found no evidence.

Carly Fiorina

EPA to 'control 96 percent of water in Iowa' — B

The EPA's Clean Water Rule is unclear about which waters are covered, with case-specific analysis required in many cases. Potential for widespread oversight makes it possible Fiorina's claim is true.

Mike Huckabee

'Won Iowa caucus with largest number votes in history' — A

Huckabee won the GOP's 2008 Iowa caucuses with 40,954 votes, which remains the most votes ever cast since the Iowa caucuses began in 1976.

'Costs more to incarcerate than to send to University of Iowa' — A

The estimated cost of attendance at the UI for 2015-2016 is about $21,000, compared to the average annual cost per Iowa inmate of $34,800.

Martin O'Malley

'Spent more time' in Iowa than other Democrats — A

Candidate itinerary, data on Democracy in Action's website and a National Journal travel tracker, show O'Malley visited more Iowa communities than any other Democrat at that time.

'Wind energy (jobs) increase 50 percent' — A

American Wind Energy Association data show Iowa wind-power jobs almost doubled to 6,001-to-7,000 jobs in 2014, as O'Malley claimed.

Bernie Sanders

'Fifteen richest Americans acquired more wealth than the bottom 100 million' — A

Forbes magazine says the 15 richest Americans increased their net worth in the past two years by nearly $130 billion, while the Federal Reserve reports the poorest 155 million lost net worth during that span.

'Passed most amendments in a Republican Congress' — D

Congressional data show at least one Democrat passed more amendments in fewer terms. Sanders did sponsor many amendments, but his claim was off.

'Trade agreements allow corporate America to shut plants' — C

Sanders's claim that 60,000 American factories closed since 2001 was accurate, but tying closings to trade agreements is misleading.

Donald Trump

Trump beating Cruz in last three Iowa polls — B

Trump led Cruz in four recent polls of likely caucusgoers, but Trump left out the Des Moines Register poll showing Cruz winning. All but one poll had the two tied within the margin of error.

'Few' attended Family Leader forum — D

In the middle of the worst winter storm this season so far, 1,100 ticket holders showed up to the conservative religious group's presidential forum, debunking Trump's claim.

Attack ads

'Bush's proposed tax cuts could have saved (him) $841,643.' — B

The Democratic National Committee's claim that Jeb Bush's tax proposal would save him $841,643 is mostly true, according to an Iowa State University economist. Since not all of a person's income is taxed at the same level, Bush actually would save about $829,743 under his tax proposal.

'Trump supports eminent domain' — A

The pro-Bush PAC Right to Rise was on the money given Trump's past comments supporting a Supreme Court decision that private redevelopment could qualify as a 'public use' if the public would benefit.

'Rubio missed more votes than any other senator' — A

According to GovTrack.us, which tracks elected officials' legislative records, Marco Rubio missed 15 percent of votes from 2012 to 2015 — more than any other senator in that period of time — so the Right to Rise ad is correct.

'Cruz supports subsidies for Big Oil, end support for ethanol' — B

The America's Renewable Future ad, which Cruz demanded be pulled from the air, correctly claimed Cruz's Super PACs had received $25 million from oil interests. Cruz, who doesn't support the Renewable Fuel Standard, condones some subsidies for oil companies.

'Hillary Clinton has gotten 54 times more money from Wall Street than from Iowa' — A

The Washington Post reported Clinton received $6.42 million in donations from Wall Street-affiliated employees and PACs. This is compared to $111,584 from Iowans through Sept. 30, Federal Elections Commission data show. So American Crossroads, the ad's funder, is right.

• If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email us at factchecker@thegazette.com. This Fact Checker was researched and written by Erin Jordan, Jessie Hellmann, B.A. Morelli and Mitchell Schmidt.