Sights and sounds from the first caucus state

The first votes in the 2008 presidential election will be cast Jan. 3 in Iowa. They may also be the most influential.

In the month following the Iowa caucus, 29 states will hold presidential nominating contests. That leaves little time for candidates to recover from a stumble in the crucial first round of the presidential eliminations. Other states’ efforts to elbow their way into early-bird status have had “the unintended consequence of making this state that much more important,” says veteran Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen.

Kathy Kiely was in Des Moines last week. Here’s what she saw and heard.