Politics

The next sounds you hear will be Iowa Republicans rendering their judgment for 2012. The road to the magic number of 1,145 — delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination — begins Tuesday. The caucuses, all 1,774 of them, start at 7 pm Central time (8 Eastern), and results may start to trickle in within the hour.

The voting in the Iowa GOP caucuses begins Tuesday night. On the last day before the caucuses, Republican presidential candidates campaigned across the state Monday. Their goal was the same — motivating supporters to leave their homes on a cold evening, go to their precinct meeting places and vote.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul picked Exeter, a town of about 14,000 in southeastern New Hampshire, to announce his presidential run in May.

So when NPR photographer John Poole and I arrived in New Hampshire today in advance of the state's GOP primary next week, we decided to stop by this quintessential New England town and see how Paul is faring.

We headed to Me & Ollie's Bakery and Café, in the shadow of the Exeter Town Hall, where Paul officially announced his third run for the presidency.