Sarah Palin would call this place, and these people, the real America - Joe the Plumber country. But Oxford's plumber, Calvin Colony, keeps pet lions ("You can train 'em, but you can never tame 'em") and makes annual treks to a nudist resort in the Caribbean. The Oxford Project is full of such small, exquisite discoveries - personal stories that defy and debunk the stereotypes of smalltown America.
Via Philadelphia Inquirer
Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards fought in Iowa's presidential caucus, a multimillion-dollar exercise.
Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee vied for the Republicans.
With President Bush constitutionally barred from seeking re-election, both parties had wide-open, costly campaigns. Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising among them.
Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, stressed a need for change as he campaigned to become the first black president in history.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson were also on the ballot, although their aides made no claim they were in the running for a first-place finish. So, too, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who largely abandoned the state in the campaign's final days.
Via Guardian-Unlimited
