Barbecue, Music and Voting Machine Mishaps

Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.) splurged on his tent, a mildly air-conditioned extravaganza equipped with two big screens for supporters to watch the afternoon speeches.

Next door, supporters of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney rocked to live music on an elaborate stage, complete with a Jumbotron and a lighting system. Romney's tent was ringed with flat-panel televisions, just one sign of the extravagant spending by the well-financed campaign.

Romney supplied his backers with canary yellow T-shirts with his name across the front and maps of Iowa that showed rays of sunlight shooting out of Ames. Standing on stage in the midday sun, dressed in tan slacks and a black polo shirt, Romney said: "America understands we are ready for change in Washington."

If Romney's was the most visible campaign, Paul's was the loudest. A Paul parade snaked through the grounds at noon, chanting the congressman's name. In front of one RV, emblazoned with the slogan "Say Yes to Dr. No," a Paul supporter was feeding a monkey in a diaper.

Paul's entrance into the arena for his midday speech, led by a fife-and-drum corps, roused supporters to their feet. "Our campaign is all about freedom, prosperity and peace," said Paul, who wants to end the Iraq war. "We have allowed our nation to be overtaxed and overregulated and overrun by bureaucrats."

As the sun rose overhead, activists gathered in the coliseum for a string of 15-minute speeches.

Warming up the crowd, NRA head Wayne LaPierre decried the "local tyrants" who he said want to take guns away from Americans, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) -- who has toyed with running for president this year -- called on President Bush to convene a special congressional session to enact a tough immigration bill.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee took a shot at the money that Romney spent, telling the crowd: "I can't buy you. . . . I can't even rent you."