IOWA CAUCUS RESULTS Republican 97% of precincts reporting Bush 41% Forbes 30% Keyes 14% Bauer 9% McCain 5% Hatch 1% Democrats 98% of precincts reporting Gore 63% Bradley 35% Percentages will not necessarily add to 100. MORE COVERAGE FROM THE GLOBE Bush, Gore wrap up Iowa The votes tell the contentment Lesson of Iowa: Counterattack quickly Candidates have one goal remaining: closing the deal Tight-three way race in New Hampshire envisioned Gore plays it cool and girds for battle Hatch to announce he's quitting race Small-town USA sees big time turnout at polls On the road in N.H., McCain dismisses Iowa Sharing quarters, but ever so briefly EARLIER NEWS Gore, Bush easy winners of Iowa caucuses Voters say Bush best choice on moral values, can win in November Democrats: Iowa picks fighter Gore over Bradley's fresh start Republicans: Bush aims to use caucus victory to set up showdown with McCain Fiery Keyes gets strong caucus support Down-home politics shape Iowa Iowa's only the first step in picking nominee With a final flury, candidates focus on turnout Former president waits nervously as son competes in Iowa caucuses After Iowa: On to New Hampshire ABOUT THE CAUCUSES How Iowa caucuses work Why they are important ABOUT IOWA Population: 2.85 million. Registered voters: 1.8 million -- 36 percent unaffiliated, 32 percent Republican, 31 percent Democrat. Percentage of voters attending GOP caucuses in 1996: 17 percent. Race: 97 percent white. 2 percent black. 1 percent Asian. 2 percent Hispanic origin. Median age: 36.3. Median household income: $33,877. Poverty rate: 9.4 percent. Unemployment rate: 2.7 percent. Abortions: 9.8 per 1,000 women in 1995, compared with the national average of 22.9 per 1,000. 1996 vote: 50 percent Clinton; 40 percent Dole; 9 percent Perot. Average life span: 77 years, compared with the U.S. average of 75. Housing: Just over 72 percent of Iowans own their own homes, national average 66.3 percent. Crime rate: 3,816 victims per 100,000 people in 1997, vs. national average of 4,923. Tax burden: On a per-person basis, Iowa paid $4,530 in federal taxes in 1997 and got back $4,661 in federal spending.

But she was angry that her precinct in this rural southwestern Iowa town of 8,000 had shrunk so much it could elect only one delegate Monday night.

"We used to fight back and forth a lot, we had a lot of fun," she recalled.

For the most part the 10 citizens at her caucus in the three-story Creston Restored Train Depot spent a congenial hour and half -- and they agreed on a series of farm resolutions to be taken up at countywide meetings later.

Along the way, they took time to vote for a caucus delegate -- choosing precinct committeeman Alan Weisshaar, a corn farmer, by secret ballot.

It turned out that Weisshaar is a supporter of former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, but most of the neighbors who elected him did not appear to know that beforehand. In the bigger Democratic caucuses, where several delegates are chosen, the groups split up and go to different parts of the room depending on whom they support.

The fact that they were choosing just one delegate was news to Mildred Mikkelsen, a widow who is planning to sell her family farm and move to town this year. When she found out Weisshaar supported Bradley, she angrily leaned over to a neighbor and whispered:

"To me this is the craziest thing I have ever been to. That's not fair, just to elect one person. That is not fair."

Participants agreed that the 10 people who showed up at the Highland Precinct caucus represented a good showing for the remote area. But their single delegate is a stark reminder of the fading political clout of rural precincts.

Mrs. Smith's husband, Morris, who also took part in the caucus, had come home from military service in 1954 to work the family farm here. But he quit this year, tired of losing money.

As Smith and his neighbors prepared for Monday night's caucuses -- the nation's leadoff presidential nominating event -- the troubled farm economy was much on his mind.

"It is real important for farmers who the next president of the United States is going to be," Smith said. He said that's especially true this year as the pressure mounts to rework the Freedom to Farm Bill, which gives farmers more freedom to decide what to plant but can result in a glut that depresses prices.

The 70-year-old farmer has participated in the Democratic caucuses for 20 years, at times holding them in his home.

"It's great politics. It's grass roots. It's not somebody off in Washington telling you why you should be supporting this person," Smith said.

Smith and his wife both said they support Vice President Al Gore for president because they think he'll do more for farmers -- but they seemed to take the selection of a pro-Bradley delegate in stride.

This year, for the first time, the caucusgoers had to digest their politics without the home-baked brownies or other treats that participants like to share with their neighbors.

"Normally we tend to be more congenial, but it tends to go on too long," explained Judy Bierkamp, Democratic co-chair for Union County.

Creston was built by the railroad at the spot where a survey crew one night in 1868 made camp. It is at the highest point between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Today, most remnants of more than 100 years of railroading are gone, except for the depot that now houses a museum and city offices.