In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.

Rand Paul wears his political ambition for all to see. Look no further than the tie he sported during a three-day trip to Iowa. It had yellow images of corn, the crop that epitomizes politics in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. "And by coincidence, I have one in the shape of South Carolina," the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday, drawing laughs. He was speaking at a Republican breakfast outside Des Moines at Machine Shed, a Midwest restaurant chain where the waiters wear overalls and drinks are served in Mason jars. As Paul blitzed across the Hawkeye State this week, holding events at Iowa GOP offices and campaigning for local candidates, he hardly played coy to the question of whether he was running for President. After all, his nine-city trip marked his fourth visit to the state since the 2012 election. "I don't know why Iowa keeps popping up on my calendar, but it seems to be pretty frequent," he said Monday, clearly with sarcasm. His itinerary this time included a campaign-style schedule where he continued testing his 2016 message on the road. From reducing the federal deficit to defending civil liberties and reforming the criminal justice system, Paul mostly stayed on his talking points. But the trip was not without controversy. His combative answer to a reporter's question -- combined with video of Paul appearing to avoid an immigration activist — absorbed most of the attention surrounding his visit. Experts say it's unlikely those story lines will derail any progress Paul has made in the state with voters, but his comments could underscore questions some Republicans have about his foreign policy, especially as he seeks to broaden his appeal. Off-message . At his first stop on Monday, which actually took place in Omaha, Nebraska, near the Iowa state line, Paul held a news conference after touring a tech startup venue with Nebraska GOP Senate hopeful Ben Sasse. Asked if he still supported phasing out foreign aid to Israel, Paul fired back at a reporter for "mischaracterizing" his position and staunchly denied that he had ever proposed such legislation. But it's well-documented that he called for ending all foreign aid, including assistance to Israel, and sought support in Congress for his proposal in 2011. In Iowa, Paul stressed that he never introduced legislation that solely "targeted" Israel and argued that he strongly favors sending money to the country. Still, he added, Israel will be better positioned in the long run without foreign assistance. "Every country ultimately would be better off to be independent," he said on Tuesday. Paul is also taking heat for quickly exiting a tense moment when an immigration activist confronted Rep. Steve King at a fundraiser while the two lawmakers ate dinner Monday night. Video of the incident shows Paul, at the behest of his press aide, quickly getting up from the table and getting away from the confrontation. Paul said he was stepping away to do interviews with local media. Whether or not those interviews were hastened because of the activist is unclear. Still, the video quickly spread and it was enough for critics to frame a narrative that Paul bolted from an uncomfortable exchange. The dust-ups in his trip made headlines and ate up much of the coverage of his Iowa visit. David Kochel, Mitt Romney's Iowa strategist in 2008 and 2012, said he doubts caucus voters will judge Paul negatively for leaving after "someone tried to sandbag him." "I think he's fine on that," he said. "As for Israel, that's a little more difficult. You have social conservatives in Iowa who very much feel the need to be in solidarity with Israel -- not just Christian conservatives, but it's also national security conservatives." While Paul has voted in favor of sending more aid to Israel this year and has proposed cutting off aid to the Palestinians, his past statements and views on foreign policy are rooted in his libertarian leanings — a perspective still largely outside of mainstream Republican thought. "He'll probably have work to do on that issue," Kochel continued. "It could be one of those things that might limit his potential." Still, Kochel thinks Paul is the current frontunner in Iowa among prospective candidates. He points to Paul's frequent travel to the state, his efforts to build a wider GOP, and the network of supporters built by his father's presidential campaigns the past two cycles. 'Son of Ron' In the 2012 Iowa caucuses, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas finished with 21% of the vote, just slightly behind Romney and former Sen. Rick Santorum — who tied for first at 25%. Many of Ron Paul's supporters were previously inactive in politics, citing a lack of candidates who represented their views. "Your father cured my apathy," one man told Rand Paul at an event in Council Bluffs. Building off Ron Paul's 2012 momentum, the so-called liberty faction of Iowa's Republican Party eventually took control of party leadership. Mainstream Republicans, with the support of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, wrestled back control earlier this year. But Paul knows he needs more than just the libertarian wing of the party. As seen in his trip this week, he's going after the state's social conservatives and business Republicans, too. "Paul is attempting to pivot from being 'Son of Ron,' so to speak," said Dennis Goldford, professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines. "He's never going to deny that or reject it. But he has the view that Republicans need a broader base or broader range than some other candidates have maintained." Paul spoke at five GOP offices this week and five other events in a tour that took him around the state in a 730-mile loop. At each stop, Paul's main message sought to counter post-2012 perceptions that the Republican Party should change its message. "I say 'hell no.' We have to be more boldly for what we're for," he said at the GOP office in Davenport. It's a mantra he has repeated in his travels across the country this year. But he proposes doing so with some traditional and unorthodox ideas for mainstream Republicans. Part of that includes a push to speak out against domestic surveillance programs and mount a strong defense of the Fourth Amendment. He has also been aggressive in courting voters and even Democrats to help expand the party. To do that, he's urging for reform to the criminal justice system with reduced sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and the restoration of voting rights to nonviolent felons after they get out of jail. In Northwest Iowa, home to many of the state's social conservatives, Paul placed an evangelical spin on his message. "Many of us are Christians, we believe in a second chance in our religion. Anybody here who's not a sinner, raise their hand," he said Monday night at a fundraiser in Okoboji. "We believe in redemption, should the law allow people a second chance." But that's about as deep as Paul waded into social issues during the trip. He didn't talk about abortion, contraception or same-sex marriage until audience members asked him about the issues at one of his final events. Asked whether he supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, Paul said he "favors the concept" of traditional marriage but argued the federal government should stay out marriage entirely. "I don't want to register my guns in Washington or my marriage," he said. The previous past two winners of Iowa caucuses, Santorum and Mike Huckabee, both ran on a vocal platform with regard to social issues. Goldford said if Paul doesn't devote more attention to those topics, someone else will step in to fill in the void. "To function in Iowa he's going to have to address the concerns of conservative evangelicals because Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are going to do that," he said. Paul left Iowa before this weekend's annual summit hosted by the Family Leader, a group that's influential with social conservatives in the state. Guest speakers include Cruz, Huckabee, Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Paul said he couldn't make it due to a scheduling conflict. But he indicated he'd be back. "You have to meet people four, five, six times in Iowa because they expect a real personal touch, and I think it's actually one of the good things about the process," he told reporters, before needlessly adding: "if I decide to do this."
Rand Paul made a high-profile trip to Iowa this week .
Iowa is a magnet for presidential hopefuls .
Paul made headlines for changing his tune on foreign aid .
Experts say the controversy isn't a deal breaker, but he still needs social conservatives .

(CNN) -- No play can begin in a baseball game until the pitcher throws the ball. And no play can conclude until the umpire makes the call. "We're not just robots they send out there," umpire Tim McClelland (2nd from L) told author Bruce Weber. Yet these figures -- the man on the mound and the men who stand in judgment -- are vastly different in importance to the average fan. There are countless children who dream of becoming a major-league pitcher. He is, literally, the king of the hill. Umpires? Almost nobody dreams of becoming an umpire. And yet the positions share a number of similarities, according to two new books: "As They See 'Em" (Scribner), by New York Times writer Bruce Weber, and "The Complete Game" (Knopf), by former major-league pitcher (and current New York Mets broadcaster) Ron Darling. Both jobs require a great deal of command, neither gets enough training, and both are often disrespected by others in the game. Indeed, despite a library of books by and about pitchers (Jim Bouton's "Ball Four," Jim Brosnan's "The Long Season," Christy Mathewson's "Pitching in a Pinch"), Darling said he believes that people still don't understand what it takes to stand on that mound. "Within baseball circles there is a common baseball axiom, 'If pitchers weren't so stupid, hitters would never get a hit,' " he said in an e-mail. "Of course, I knew this was a fallacy so I decided to write about the travails of major league pitchers. Throwing a ball 95 mph to tin cup-sized quadrants sounds pretty difficult to me, and I wanted to express this to the reader." Umpires, on the other hand, rarely get written about at all -- in fact, they're often treated as less than human. ("The owners basically see them like bases," former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent told Weber. "They say, 'We need a base; we need an umpire; same thing.' ") Weber found a fraternity (and they are almost all men) much like cops or soldiers: tight-lipped believers in baseball law and order. Weber immersed himself in the "land of umpires," as the book's subtitle calls it, attending umpiring school, calling games at various levels of pro ball and talking with those who were willing -- including the legendary Doug Harvey, who was called "God" for his imperious demeanor. What he found is that what looks so obvious on television at home is often a challenge on the field, a matter not just of eyesight but positioning, rule-book knowledge and basic guts. "That's really what [being an umpire] is about -- is being in charge," he said. "If there's anything that characterizes the major league umpire, it's that special kind of chutzpah." Umpires need that presence because they're often baseball's most disrespected men. Aside from the vitriol they face -- the managers kicking dirt, the spectators yelling "Kill the ump" -- they're second-guessed by broadcasters and barely tolerated by management, as Weber reveals in detailing the episodes preceding and following the 1999 umpires' strike. And yet Major League Baseball doesn't participate in umpire training or development, entrusting it to two umpire-run private schools, Weber observes. (MLB does run an annual umpire camp.) Darling echoes Weber's concerns in his own field, pitching. In these days of strict pitch counts and injury concern, pitchers are "undertrain[ed]," he says, noting that top draft choices climb the ranks "never allowed to throw more than 110 pitches." That leaves them at a disadvantage when they have to go deeper into a game or cope with a tough inning, he says. "It would be like training for the marathon and never running more than 5 miles," he says. "Identifying and preserving million-dollar arms are [the purview] of doctors, not baseball people." Darling's book is a chronicle of pitchers' thought processes, using individual innings from his pitching or broadcasting career to make his point. He talks about panic overtaking a pitcher, as it did for Darling in a 1984 game in which he got pasted by the Cubs; he also addresses the rush of pitching in a World Series game and -- in a treat for baseball fans -- goes over the extra innings in perhaps the most famous college baseball game ever, a 1981 extra-inning contest that Darling's Yale Bulldogs lost to Frank Viola's St. John's Redmen, 1-0. He says he remembered the games vividly. "I definitely watched tapes and read box scores, but I was very clear on almost all the minutiae of the good old days. A little scary and maybe a major personality flaw!" Pitchers get more support than umpires, of course. Darling observes that the relationship between a pitcher and his catcher during a well-pitched game "is one of sport's most beautiful dances. I would not have said it when I was playing, but after a shutout ... there is a love for that person immediately after the process. You did something together that could not have been done alone, and nobody can understand what you went through to get there." Umpires, too, take pride in their best moments, though few pay attention outside their fellow umpires. More common is to be vilified for missed calls. Weber devotes a moving passage in his book to a conversation with the retired Don Denkinger, a 29-year veteran remembered by fans (if he's remembered at all) for a wrong call in the 1985 World Series. Though time has dulled the pain, "I think he lives with [that call] every day," Weber said. "When a dreadful thing happens to you in front of so many people and you become famous for it, it must be devastating." Weber says his time with umpires has made him much more sympathetic to their judgmental tasks. When watching games now, the Yankees fan says, he'll focus on the umpires. "I just think umpiring is interesting. People hate 'em, and they somehow perceive of umpiring as a flaw in the game, but I don't," he said. "Now I'm always interested who the umpires are." Which is a point the umpires would appreciate. "Umpires are people, too," veteran ump Tim McClelland told Weber. "We have families; we have emotions. ... Somebody says, 'Kill the umpire,' and people go, 'Heh, heh, that's funny,' but in order to do that, you have to disassociate the umpire from the person. "We're human. We're not just robots they send out there."
"As They See 'Em" is in-depth look at baseball umpires .
"The Complete Game," by Mets broadcaster Ron Darling, gets inside pitcher's head .
Two positions have similarities: necessary command, some disrespect .

(CNN) -- Formula One team Sauber will feature a message of support for the people of Japan on the livery of their cars at the opening grand prix of the season. The Asian country was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami on Friday last week with over 5,000 people now confirmed to have died. One of Sauber's drivers, Kamui Kobayashi, is a native of Japan and was born in the Hyogo prefecture. He and Mexican Sergio Perez's cars will carry a message in Japanese at the Melbourne Grand Prix in Australia on March 27 that reads 'may our prayers reach the people in Japan.' Sauber's team principal Peter Sauber told Formula One's official website it was important the team did something to demonstrate their support. "It is difficult to find the right words to express our emotions and feelings, but silence means we can't even begin imagine how to try," he said. "We can hardly believe what we are seeing. Our thoughts are with the people in Japan. "We hope they will have the necessary strength to overcome these circumstances of extreme adversity."

Formula One team Sauber to show support for Japan at opening race of the season .
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi is from Japan .
Message to be displayed on the livery of Sauber's cars .

