COLUMBIA, S.C.- In the children's section of the Happy Bookseller in Columbia, S.C., Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) stands on a wooden chair near the pop-up books, apologizing to a handful of supporters for his late arrival. About two dozen people are standing in a short line clutching copies of Biden's autobiography and waiting for his signature. The Democratic presidential candidate is still wearing his characteristic wide grin but admits that it's been a long day.

ATLANTA- Moments before Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) bounded onto the stage at a campaign rally in downtown Atlanta late last month, retired minister and civil-rights icon Joe Lowery offered an opening prayer: "Lord, we are here tonight because when we sing 'My Country 'Tis of Thee,' we see too much misery."

Here's a piece of advice for presidential candidates filling in their travel schedules for the fall campaign season: Use a pencil. The eraser will come in handy when facing an ever-changing primary calendar among states clamoring for more influence in the 2008 elections.

At least 15 states have moved up their primary dates in 2008, and more than a dozen moved up their contests to Feb. 5: With more than 20 states scheduled to hold primaries that day, Feb. 5 will become the biggest single voting day in primary history.

NEW ORLEANS- On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's rampage through the Gulf Coast, the White House trumpeted how much money the federal government has poured into the devastated region in just two years: $114 billion.

Factor tax relief into the equation and the number jumps to $127 billion. That enormous sum comes close to matching the gross domestic product for the entire state of Louisiana. (Louisiana's GDP is $141 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.)

AMES and DES MOINES, Iowa-On a sweltering August afternoon in Des Moines, thousands of sweaty carnival-goers creep along the scorching blacktop at the Iowa State Fair. Some stand in line for deep-fried Twinkies or a giant sausage on a stick, while others file past a life-size cow sculpted out of 600 pounds of pure cream Iowa butter.

For Margaret Beale, returning to school this fall is different. Just last spring, the rising junior from South Boston, Va., wasn't sure she would return to Virginia Tech at all. Beale, a 21-year-old history major, walked into Hancock Hall on April 16 around the same time Cho Seung-Hui entered Norris Hall next door. Less than an hour later, Cho's vicious rampage had left 33 dead and 25 injured in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

In the early morning, nearly 12 hours after an eight-lane Minneapolis bridge packed with rush-hour traffic collapsed into the Mississippi River, Sam Crabtree walked to the surreal scene from his home a half-mile away. The sky was clear and the water looked calm. "It's a beautiful summer morning here," he told WORLD a few hours later from his office at nearby Bethlehem Baptist Church. "But the smell of death is in the air."