Specify offset for a particular category among many?

Is it possible to specify and offset for particular categories? I see that there are a few plugins like Customizable Post Listings, Get Offset Excerpt Test v0.71, or Show Categories 1.4. The first two provide the option for an offset which is what I need for what I am trying to do but it does not perform at the category level like I need.

Here’s what I am going for in the end product then we can figure out how to make it work (if it’s even possible to make work): It’s a news site that will have content in a number of standard “news type” sections (Politics & Foreign Affairs, Arts & Culture, et al.). The way that the front page is laid out is it will have a big floated box for a feature story item. The rest of the page has the regular story items on the left side flowing down the page. And finally a sidebar for news brief items.

The issue I’m having involves only the feature story float and the regular stories. What I’m trying to accomplish is have the old feature stories (which have a category of “Feature Story” applied to them appear with the regular stories basically with an offset of “1” and of course the latest feature story will be int he float. Does that make sense? It’s late here so if not I can explain with more coherency tomorrow.

To help you guys see what I mean view the mockup I’ve got here (link removed) Thanks for your help. ??