Obama check-in

IOWA CITY - Want to know what one goes through to get into a presidential event?

For the news media, it begins with checking in. I got to the northeast side of the University of Iowa Field House at about 10:55 a.m. and checked in to get my press pass.

Then you set down your equipment – cameras, laptops, radio gear, whatever it is TV people keep in those big cases, even microphones - and you're ordered to step back.

A police K9 sniffed everything, and law enforcement officers (I saw police and Secret Service), go through it all, which you turn on so they know it's actually a functional piece of equipment.

Then it's time to head inside. At least a few feet. You again have your bag searched (the guy who went through my laptop bag got the zipper over a snag that I'd been unable to conquer for months, but now I can't get it back; these guys are pros). And you're searched with that security wand thing.

That's it. It's kind of like a really intense airport check-in. I'd say it took 15 minutes, much of it waiting in line. I'm now in a back corner of the Field House with a fairly good angle on the stage, which not every journalist is going to have. The place is filling up already, both with media and members of the public.