A high school focus group: Who’s ‘the hottest’ Romney son? Scenes from the Iowa caucuses

On the first day of the spring semester at Valley High School, the senior class filed into the school gym to hear three Republican presidential candidates make their pitch to the young people of Iowa. About 800 students took a seat in the bleachers to listen to Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and four of Mitt Romney's  sons, who are campaigning for their father.
I hiked up to the middle of the bleachers after Bachmann spoke and grabbed a seat next to some of the athletes on the girls sports teams. They' were atwitter about seeing Ron Paul.
"Is Ron Paul going to be here?" asked Shannon, a softball player.
"Yup," another girl replied.

"Yesssssssss," Shannon said.
That, however, was before Mitt Romney's sons--Josh, Matt, Craig, and Tagg--took the stage. The young women gasped. (Ron who?)
"Yummyyyy," Kylie, another softball player, muttered under her breath.
"What's the name of the one in the checkered shirt?" asked Shannon, a basketball player, pointing to Romney's son Craig. "He's the hottest."
Everyone in my focus group agreed, calling him "the baby."
After the Romney hunks departed, the traveling herd of reporters bolted for the door, where another candidate was about to enter.
"Is that Ron!?" one of the girls blurted out, snapping out of her Romney Boy trance. She strained her neck to see past the basketball hoops.
"No, it's just Rick," another one said, disappointed after spotting Rick Santorum.
"Rick who?" one of the girls asks as Santorum makes his way across the floor.
"Wait a minute,"  Ally, a basketball player said, looking closer. "He's kind of hot."
Now there was some disagreement. One of the students agreed--"Yeah, he's kind of cute"--but another said, "He has a huge face."
The girls weren't thrilled about Santorum's trademark sweater vest. It "makes him a look a little chunky" and "hits him at the wrong spots." Consensus.
When Santorum finished speaking, it's finally time for the main event, Dr. Ron Paul.
When Paul entered, no one could see him because the 76-year-old was smothered by a horde of cameras. Then a small window opened within the throng, and a little face peeped out to the cheering crowd.
"He's got his glasses on," Shannon exclaimed. "Like a BOSS."
"He reminds me of my grandpa! He's so oooold," Kylie remarked, "How bad would you feel if he had a heart attack right now?"
This remark was followed by a very awkward silence, broken by a nearby "GO RON PAUL!"--an exclamation that occurs reliably every few minutes at any Paul event.
Paul began his speech by touting his recent endorsement from pop star Kelly Clarkson, transitioned into his regular talk about ending the war--which drew a roar of applause-- and ended with a lecture on sound money, which drew a roar of yawns.
"Wrap it up, Ron," muttered Shannon, the biggest Paul fan in the bunch.
When Paul stopped talking, the girls forgave him immediately. Like clockwork, one of them stood up and yelled the war chant. "GO RON PAUL!"

--Chris Moody, 2:43 p.m. CT

We are updating this page throughout caucus day in Iowa with scenes, photographs, observations and insights from the four Yahoo News reporters in Iowa on the campaign trail. Scroll down for more.

Mitt Romney's Iowa campaign headquarters

Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters in Des Moines is located in an abandoned Blockbuster video store. On caucus day, 40 people were working the phones, but no press were allowed to witness their work. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican representative from Utah and a Romney surrogate, was inside talking to volunteers.

-- David Chalian, 1:41 p.m. CT

My Three Romney Sons

Mitt Romney didn't attend Tuesday morning's "Rock the Caucus" event at West Des Moines' Valley High School, but he sent four of his sons as surrogates (three of whom are pictured above).

-- Rachel Rose Hartman, 1:23 p.m. CT

What do teenagers like more? Kelly Clarkson or iPhones?
During their speeches this morning to students here at Valley High School, in West Des Moines, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul each mentioned one of those things in an attempt to connect with a gymnasium full of young people at a "Rock the Caucus" event held for students on the first day back from their winter break.
"This is my iPhone. Anybody got one?" Bachmann asked the crowd. Many hollered in response.
"We love these things. We couldn't imagine living without these things anymore," Bachmann added. But she dropped the connection in the next breath by talking about landlines and the high cost of long-distance calls when she was a kid. "You've got your entire music collection" at hand, Bachmann said of her new phone, and "music videos," "instant T.V.," and "information," she told the students, some of whom smirked to one another, presumably at having the devices explained to them.
Paul, who spoke after Bachmann and Mitt Romney's sons, went for the celebrity endorsement.
"Does anybody here know the name 'Kelly Clarkson?'" Paul asked at the top of his speech. Cheers went up in the audience. "Recently, she endorsed me a couple weeks ago."
"I have to admit I didn't know a whole lot about her," Paul went on to say. "But I do know that our supporters were so enthusiastic about it, they went out and bumped up her sale of records by 600 percent." A few laughs rang out from the crowd, but they mostly remained silent.

-- Rachel Rose Hartman, 1:09 p.m. CT

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa--Steve King, the conservative Republican member of Congress from Iowa, confirmed last night that he will not endorse a Republican presidential candidate before Tuesday night's caucuses. That's why his surprise appearance this morning alongside colleague and ideological twin Michele Bachmann caused a stir.
"I'm now here to ask Michele ..." the Iowa congressman said as reporters listened with rapt attention, "...if she'll sign this pledge" to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law.
Though King offered much praise for Bachmann, all she got from him was a Sharpie marker with which to sign a white posterboard reading, "Repeal Obamacare."

-- Rachel Rose Hartman, 12:49 p.m. CT

CLIVE, Iowa--The best way to get attention from the news media just before the Iowa caucuses is to hold an event within easy driving distance of Des Moines. Last night, more than 100 reporters showed up in Clive, about 10 miles west of the state capital, to see the final stop of Mitt Romney's bus tour of the state. There were so many journalists in attendance that the event felt like it was being held in late October as opposed to early in the primary season.
But there are downsides to attracting so much media attention. A Romney event early Wednesday morning near downtown Des Moines attracted as many reporters as actual voters—resulting in a noticeably subdued atmosphere. Romney's stump speech, which included several lines trashing President Barack Obama, didn't solicit the wild applause he has generated on the trail in recent days.
If pictures matter--and they do in campaigns--his staff probably wishes they had ended Romney's tour of Iowa on Monday night in Clive.

-- Holly Bailey, 10:05 a.m. CT