Iowa

A hodgepodge crowd gathers here twice a week for handouts just steps from City Hall and an empty kosher deli. Outside the local food pantry snakes a line of Guatemalans wearing court-ordered ankle monitors, imported workers from the Pacific island of Palau and unemployed town natives -- almost all there because of a dramatic raid that has left a deep mark in the way the U.S. views and deals with illegal immigration.

. -- Iowa slugged out an ugly win in soggy Happy Valley to upset Penn State for the second straight year. Adrian Clayborn returned a blocked punt for a touchdown and the Hawkeyes beat mistake-prone No. 5 Penn State, 21-10, on Saturday night. A year after a stunning 24-23 win knocked the Nittany Lions out of the national title race, the Hawkeyes (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) took down Penn State (3-1, 0-1) again, this time in a drenching rainstorm. "It was a team loss. No one person, or one play lost it," said Penn State Coach Joe Paterno.

A high school coach who helped launch several professional football careers was gunned down in front of students Wednesday by a former player who may have had psychiatric problems, authorities said. Mark Becker unloaded several rounds into Aplington-Parkersburg High School football Coach Ed Thomas and was arrested in the driveway of his parents' home soon afterward, said Kevin Winker, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The top three Democratic presidential candidates have begun focusing intensely on becoming the second choice among supporters of less-popular candidates such as Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, in a behind-the-scenes battle that could decide the outcome of Thursday's Iowa caucuses.

Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination might have gained a slight advantage Tuesday with Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich's recommendation to his supporters to back the Illinois senator if there is insufficient support for Kucinich in individual precincts. While Kucinich's support is slight here, polls show a statistical tie for first among Obama, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Fred Adams, a retired Drake University history professor, wandered across the street from his house for a neighborhood party the Sunday before Christmas -- 5-8 p.m., food and drinks -- where he spotted Tammy Gentry. "I saw my opportunity," Adams said later, "and I took it." Adams knew Gentry was leaning toward former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina in Thursday's first-in-the-nation caucuses. But her husband, Brian, was backing Sen.

A presidential election is a conversation about the nation's future, but all Richard Brenner was hearing in Van Nuys were fragments, disconnected bits and pieces. He wanted more. He yearned for a lively discussion, some policy, a vision. While presidential candidates swarmed through early primary and caucus states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in the nominating process, they often ignored California.

The Iowa caucuses apparently did not outrank shut-eye for President Bush. Asked if the president planned to stay up to find out who won the opening contests of the 2008 election season, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Thursday: "What time do all the results start coming in? Because he goes to bed early." Later, Perino said Bush planned to watch a bit of the returns but would not stay tuned for the accompanying political punditry.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee swept to victory Thursday night in the Iowa caucuses, dispatching their more established rivals and shredding any sense of inevitability in the 2008 presidential race. The results were a serious setback for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who finished a close third behind John Edwards, and for Republican Mitt Romney, who finished second in his race.

The Republicans gathered upstairs, the Democrats downstairs, and for more than an hour Thursday night, the enthusiasm gap between the two major parties could be measured by both numbers and sound volume inside the Central Community Church here. In all, 303 Democrats were jammed into an overheated basement meeting room that crackled with excitement, while the 198 Republicans who filled the first floor church were more subdued -- as if they were there for services, not for politics.