WASHINGTON (AP) - Not so fast, Pennsylvania. The next stop in
the Democratic presidential race is ... Iowa.

Yes, Iowa.

Weeks before Pennsylvania holds its primary on April 22, states
such as Iowa, Texas and Nevada will conduct the next round of
voting in the multistep process of choosing delegates to the
national convention this summer.

Iowa, which first voted on January 3rd, holds county conventions
this weekend in familiar locales the candidates remember well, like
Des Moines.

Welcome to the arcane world of the presidential caucus, where
one day of voting is rarely enough to lock up national delegates
and sometimes two rounds doesn't cut it, either. The party's system
has both campaigns working to keep, and perhaps gain, delegates who
have already been claimed in the early voting states.

At stake: 248 delegates in 10 states, more than enough to shift
the balance of the entire race. The Associated Press has awarded
138 of those delegates to Barack Obama. Ninety-six went to Hillary
Rodham Clinton.