Straw Poll

By Harriet Barovick, Autumn DeLeon, Michelle Derrow, Aisha Durham, Sanders Goodrich, Tam Gray, Lina Lofaro, Tim Padgett and Reed Tucker

If you're naked, hungry and like to dance, Ames, Iowa, is the place to be this Saturday, especially for Republicans. G.O.P. presidential candidates want your support in the quadrennial straw poll--a voting exercise with the precision and meaning of a Ouija board that has taken on life-or-death significance for some candidates. To entice lever pullers, campaigns have bought scores of tickets ($25 a head), hauled supporters across the state on fleets of free air-conditioned buses, and bedecked the faithful with hats, shirts and stickers. The afternoon promises to be a toe-tapping jamboree as attendees gorge themselves on pulled pork and sweet corn, all the while listening to gospel and country music. George W. Bush is bringing in the sports heavies, including skeet-shooting champion Kim Rhodes and bass fisherman Johnny Morris, while Pat Buchanan's giving out potholders. And Lamar Alexander, who has 200 bicyclists coming to town, revived the plaid-shirt motif on his invitation to meet Miss Iowa.