WATERLOO - Room 112 was packed so tightly with caucus-goers both the room temperature and the political energy reached near boiling.

It was the same overcrowded scene down the West High School hallway - too many voters, not enough space.

Not a bad problem.

Grassroots democracy was live and in color across Black Hawk County Monday night, as Iowans turned out in record numbers for the 2004 presidential caucus, many for the first time.

Here's a look at some scenes of busy caucuses across the metro area:

While the temperatures were rising inside, Dean supporters were standing outside East High School wrapped in gloves, scarves, hats and mittens.

More than 150 Dean supporters traveled from Pennsylvania last week to dig up even more support for their candidate.

"This is our last push to hopefully get out one more voter to the caucuses," said Josh Olmstead of Philadelphia as he waved his bright blue sign at passing cars. "We really admire that Iowans can gather with their neighbors and discuss who they support and why they support them."

Ursula Peterson, 17, was the only one of her high school friends to attend a caucus.

"My friends say their votes don't count, that it's the electoral votes that are important. But of course it won't count if you don't come to vote," Ursula said.

She and her mother, Chris, attended their Ward 2, Precinct 4 caucus. The mother-daughter pair was optimistic and excited walking into West High School to register for their precinct.

But their candidate of choice - Howard Dean - did not earn enough support for viability. Ursula was crestfallen but defiant. Despite being mobbed by supporters of Rep. Dick Gephardt, Sen. John Edwards and Sen. John Kerry, the seven Deaniacs refused to be swayed.

"We got mobbed," said one Dean supporter, "But we refused to be handled."

Caucus rules mandate that if a candidate does not have at least 15 percent of the precinct's attendants, the group is not viable. At that point, non-viable groups are eligible to switch "teams." Otherwise, non-viable groups are calculated as uncommitted.

Chris hugged her disappointed daughter.

"This was a growing experience for both of us," Chris said.

With apologies to Rob Reiner, caucusing was "all in the family" for three members of a Waterloo family all participating for the first time - but none were for actor/director Reiner's man, Howard Dean.

"I ended up being a delegate - me and my wife," said Todd Stevenson. He, his wife, Deb, and their daughter, Melissa, caucused at Waterloo Ward 5, Precinct 1, at the new Irving Elementary School.

"We ended up with a split, though - she was for (Sen. John) Edwards," Todd said of his daughter. He and his wife were for Rep. Dick Gephardt.

The Stevensons' persuasion was effective, as Gephardt got 45 percent of the delegates and participants in their precinct. "A lot of the building trades are behind him. We've been taking it in the rear pretty much for a lot of years," said Stevenson, a member of United Iron Workers Local 89.

Gephardt carried the precinct, winning the support of 17 caucus-goers, who were able to elect two county convention delegates, compared to one delegate each for Sen. John Kerry and Edwards, supported by 11 and 10 caucus-goers, respectively.

"I was excited," said Deb Stevenson, who works at Bertch Cabinet Manufacturing. "Very interesting. They explained everything before anything needed to be done, and everybody knew what they needed to do."

Daughter Melissa favored Edwards without too much razzing from her folks. "I think he's a straight shooter," she said.

Mary Clark of Waterloo became the most popular person in Mrs. Hoseal's science classroom at Hoover Middle School Monday night.

As an undecided at her Ward 1, Precinct 6 site, Clark became an instant target of supporters of Gephardt, Dean, Kerry and Edwards.

She quietly listened as each gave a presentation as to why she should join the preference groups of their candidate.

Clark eventually decided on Edwards after reading his positions on job growth. "I was really torn (coming in)," she said.

Nancy Rice of St. Louis sat with two other Gephardt supporters in the back of the Hoover Middle School Auditorium where Ward 2, Precinct 6 was caucusing. Across the hallway at the Ward 5, Precinct 6 caucus, the Gephardt table was empty. Not a single Gephardt supporter showed up at that precinct. At a third caucus site in the same building in the, Ward 1, Precinct 6 caucus, Gephardt supporters struggled to have enough people to be a viable group.

"We had problems with our Get Out the Vote," Rice said, clearly dejected.

She said a contingent of Gephardt supporters from Missouri had been living in a motel in Waterloo for the past few days trying to garner support for their candidate.

But something happened between the gathering and getting them to the caucus sites.

Janine Ambrose is no stranger to the caucus procedure.

Ambrose has attended every caucus since 1988, when she earned her a spot as a Gephardt delegate at the county convention. This year, Ambrose served as the official secretary for the Ward 5, Precinct 3 caucus at West High School.

Like many Gephardt supporters, Ambrose was faced with a choice - register uncommitted or switch to a viable candidate.

Then in a move of political chess, precinct chairman Bill Dotzler left his own caucus to talk strategy with voters down the hall.

He explained to Ambrose and her fellow Gephardt supporters that the best way to support Gephardt without actually caucusing for him was to support a candidate with lower numbers, like Edwards or Dean. Dotzler said Kerry was already surging in his own precinct.

So Ambrose went to the Edwards camp.

"I was prepared for that. He was my second choice, but I switched because I wanted a definite direction to go in," she said.

At Southdale Elementary School in Cedar Falls, Bill Teaford, chairman of Ward 5, Precinct 3, passed around an envelope to collect money for the school district. The reason? The custodians working to keep the schools open Monday night were getting overtime pay because of the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday.

"They're getting double time," Teaford said. "We all know the schools are working with a tight budget."

Three generations of Taylor women showed their political spirit as first-time caucus-goers.

Though unfamiliar with the caucus procedures there was one thing these Gephardt supporters were sure of.

"This is unorganized," said Terrie, the Taylor stuck in the middle.

But, the organization wasn't enough to turn these women off from the process.

"I wouldn't mind volunteering for his campaign, being retired and all," said Ruthie Taylor, the oldest of the three.

Her volunteering efforts were cut short though, when Gephardt called off his campaign after coming in fourth in Iowa.

The looming possibility of another four years under President Bush even brought out those registered as independents.

Jackie Shock, of Waterloo, changed her registration Monday night so she could be eligible to vote in the Democratic caucus.

"I don't want another four years of Bush and I am afraid that is going to happen," she said. "We have to come out and get our voices heard."

Black Hawk County Democratic chairman E.J. Gallagher III managed to create order out of chaos.

Armed with a cell phone, a land-line phone, a laptop computer and a printer, he was a one-man election center, receiving walk-in and call-in election results and exchanging information with Iowa Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines.

Cramped in small office on the seventh floor of the Black's building, a procession of precinct chairs crammed into the room to drop off their results.

Gallagher, tied up on the phone with state party headquarters, received some able assistance from Shane Shellhorn and Jeff Danielson, two John Kerry campaign volunteers.

Some scattered confusion took place in some precincts. One precinct at West High School reported that three out-of-state John Edwards campaign workers tried to participate in the caucuses. Though technically legal residents - having been in the state six months - they agreed not to participate and not cause any controversy when a supporter of another candidate questioned their participation.

Some precinct chairs reported difficulties calling in their results to Des Moines, leaving Gallagher to relay those in.

There was some jockeying in delegate selection in some precincts. Delegate selection took some time in one precinct, in which some non-viable Gephardt supporters were promised a delegate if they joined one of the other campaigns. Also a secret ballot was required for delegate selection in one instance. Some delegates whose candidates were non-viable had to be strongly persuaded to join other candidates, and some non-viable ones left early, forcing an entire recalculation of delegate distribution.

In the end, results in only one of the county's 64 precincts remained uncounted, when Gallagher closed up shop for the night shortly before 11 p.m. He was unable to participate in his own caucus.

"I've been here all day," Gallagher said. "I'm the Maytag repairman."

Managing Editor Nancy Raffensperger Newhoff, Assistant City Editor Pat Kinney and Staff Writer Terry Hudson contributed to this article.