Two New Yorkers at the Iowa State Fair

DES MOINES, Aug. 15 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at the Iowa State Fair in a motorcade, flanked by Secret Service agents, half a dozen assistants and a former governor. Aides to the New York Democrat and presidential candidate unfurled a yellow rope to keep back the crowds.

She was not, in short, the average visitor standing in line for pork on a stick.

Neither was former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican candidate who made a similar splash at the fairgrounds when he showed up four hours later.

But it was here, far from the streets of Manhattan, where the two front-runners for their respective parties' presidential nominations nearly crossed paths on Wednesday. Just hours apart, the two New Yorkers descended on the fairgrounds and tried to shed their city slicker personas for the day, embracing odd bits of Americana ("Oh, my gosh!" Clinton exclaimed as she took in a life-size cow replica made of butter) nearly four months before the first votes are cast in the Iowa caucuses.

Iowa presents different challenges for each: While Giuliani is revered as the mayor who offered comfort to the public in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he is viewed skeptically by some conservative Republicans in Iowa because of his history on abortion and gay rights. Clinton, meanwhile, has faced questions among liberal Democrats about her electability and her polarizing effect on voters, issues that were on display as she drew some nasty comments from passersby at the fair.

Stylistically, though, Giuliani and Clinton share an uphill battle -- namely in convincing voters that they are normal people, rather than visiting members of the coastal elite with occasionally gruff manners and sharp partisan elbows. So during her midday visit, Clinton flipped pork patties. She stopped at a food stand and ordered ice cream on a stick, dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts.

"You're officially at the state fair -- you've got something on a stick," said a man behind her in line.

Several hours later, Giuliani came with less of an entourage but attracted slightly more attention from passersby. Unlike Clinton, who gave her set stump speech and did not invite questions, the former mayor actively sought to engage, talking to a gathered crowd for only a few minutes before soliciting questions and stopping to talk at length with any reporter who asked.

Pulling a permanent marker from his pocket, Giuliani signed autographs and even a young admirer's tank top (with her mother's permission). He marveled at the geographic diversity of the fair. "There are a lot of people from a lot of places here," he told one visitor from Texas. Still, Giuliani did not stray far from his Sept. 11 image, using tough language in response to questions about immigration and terrorism and even discussing fingerprint imaging technology -- not exactly typical fairground fare.

And for some, that was fine. Melissa Curiel, 34, brought her daughter to meet the former mayor. "He was there on 9/11, and that makes him an awesome person," said Curiel, describing herself as a committed Giuliani voter.

Clinton steered further from substance, her goal, even more than Giuliani, to show her human side. Women in particular flocked to meet her. Jeanne Rutz, 80, said she was proud to stand in the sweltering heat to meet the woman who would become the first female president. "Is there anyone else?" she asked.

Not all were so pleased to see Clinton, whose husband never campaigned in Iowa and who remains divisive as a political figure in her own right.

Christie Vilsack, who with her husband, Tom, the former Iowa governor, was part of the Clinton entourage, spent much of the more than two-hour tour introducing the candidate to familiar voters. But when Vilsack tried to coax 87-year-old Roberta Hindman to come meet Clinton, the elderly woman snapped: "No way. She makes me sick." Another passerby loudly referred to Clinton as "the Antichrist," and a third man argued with Tom Vilsack about whether she would become president, telling him, "I can't stand her."

Yet Clinton was mobbed for the entire visit, in contrast to the muted reception given another Democratic candidate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), who was also at the fair. For Clinton, there were even some moments of near-spontaneity.

She marveled at an apple-slicing machine that produced a candied apple dish for her. At the Iowa pork producers stand, she donned a specially made apron with her name and "The Other White Meat" emblazoned on it. Clinton's top Iowa strategist, veteran political operative Teresa Vilmain, practically glowed as she ate a hamburger, then a pork chop, watching her candidate become the fair's main attraction.

And Tom Vilsack, who decided not to run for president himself, said he is seeing positive signs for Clinton in the state, where she launched a television ad campaign last week. "People see her working for it," Vilsack said. "Her message is resonating with people."

Asked whether the Iowa fair is better than the New York fair as she breezed from one stand to the next, Clinton just smiled.