In Des Moines, calm before the storm

DES MOINES – After barnstorming the state in recent days, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are taking it easy on caucus day, as they prepare for a big night and overnight flights to New Hampshire.

Clinton had lunch at Tursi’s Latin King restaurant today with her husband Bill, their daughter Chelsea, her mother, Dorothy Rodham, and an old family friend, Sarah Ehrman.

Ehrman regailed a pool reporter with the story of how she drove the young Hillary Rodham from Washington to Arkansas to be with Bill Clinton.

"All the way down, I was saying are you nuts? That guy is going to be a country lawyer. He'll never amount to anything. And she said 'I love him.' The rest," Ehrman chuckled, "is history."

Bill Clinton told a supporter about his day: "I took a little bit of a nap and took a walk in the cold."

Earlier, the former president ran into some reporters at Starbucks. According to Politico, he was lowering expectations for tonight, as the Clinton folks have been doing a lot in recent days.

“I didn’t win a race until I got to Georgia,” he said. “You just got to keep going. It is a long process.”

Meanwhile, Obama shook hands in a downtown food court. Although he had a lot of eager well-wishers, he did get one chilly question: is he an atheist?

"I'm a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ," Obama replied, according to a pool report. "Don't read e-mails."

He was referring to malicious rumors that he is either a nonbeliever or a radical Muslim.

"I hated having to ask him that," said the questioner, Zanata Moore-El. "But I heard he was like an atheist. I don't want a president who's an atheist. I'm a firm believer in God. I just really wanted to make sure because I really wanted to vote for him and he has some good topics and everything."