Something I did not expect about Iowa: On my three-mile hike to downtown from my flophouse, I saw not one yard sign promoting a candidate. Neither did I see a single bumper sticker. I half-expected something resembling the Republican Convention floor all over the city, but if you didn't pay attention to the news, it could be just any old Tuesday in Iowa. I have heard a couple of radio ads, both for Michele Bachmann, but if you keep the TVs, computers, and radios off, everything seems positively normal.