Iowa town welcomes Obama, shares war concerns

It was a raw April evening in the far northern stretches of Iowa: 14 degrees outside with the wind chill. Seed advertising signs lined the edges of cornfields, which still contained the remains of stalks from last year. A grain silo, a white farmhouse, a hill here or there. It could have been East Central Illinois.

Lines of cars, vans and pickups filled the two-lane Highway 122 near North Iowa Community College on the outskirts of Mason City. They passed the 4-H calf-fitting clinic and headed toward the gym.

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