"It Seems to Work"

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There probably will not be any barn burnings on this caucus night. But the airwaves will have been heated with exorbitant claims of the leadership qualities of the candidates, and the television folk heroes will have arrived along with 2,499 other journalists. The hype will reach to the far stars. Iowa will seem far bigger than it really is. America will have to rely on the enduring sense of those quiet heartland people.

So Cornelia Hoy on the big night will gather up her sugar cookies, spread a little cream-cheese frosting on them and go on down to the Raccoon Valley State Bank's community room in Adel, a town rejuvenated by yuppies who live there and work in Des Moines. She will meet precinct Co-Chairwoman Jean Siegrist, and they will check the coffeemaker, open up the doors and wait for their fellow Republicans to arrive. When the greetings are over, they will bring the caucus to order and ask their neighbors to cast the secret ballot that is the crucial straw vote on the presidential candidates. The count will be tallied and then beamed around the world. "It's a pretty amateurish affair," says Mrs. Hoy. "We sort of stumble through it, but it seems to work." The story of these United States.