The 11- day Iowa State Fair has started last Wednesday Evening at downtown Des Moines with Gov. Terry Branstad. It's an annual Midwest tradition and a valued chance for the presidential hopefuls' campaign program.
According to edition.cnn.com, Iowa State Fair features art shows, amusement rides, livestock and agricultural exhibitions and the Midwest Dairy Association's Butter Cow, a sculpture of a life- sized cow made of few hundred pounds of butter.
More than 1 million participants are expected to visit the fair which make it a perfect opportunity for presidential hopefuls from both parties to connect with the voters. The candidates' destination is the Des Moines Register's Soapbox where they will be given a chance to speak and address the fair- goers.
Each candidate is given 20 minutes to make their pitch to the fair's attendees.
In a report by cbsnews.com, the candidates will be facing uncontrolled audience and it's up to them how to deal with hecklers, their outfit for a good impression as well as the food that they're going to eat as all of these will be observed by the fair visitors. Carol Hunter, news director for Des Moines register said that "If protestors show up, it is a free country, it is a public fairgrounds, that is part of the process, but we have come close to having the pushing and shoving and I hope that everyone "lets the candidates speak to the crowd and have their say."
The expected candidates who will attend the Iowa State Fair and participate in the soapbox are the fourteen Republican while on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who will attend the fair on Saturday, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb.
According to Annah Backstorm, the Des Moines Register's content strategist for politics, "The caucuses are about face-to-face campaigning, and you're going to get the biggest audience possible by walking around the fairgrounds. You're going to get the most exposure, you're going to see the most faces. And it's important in a state like Iowa, where what gets people to turn out on caucus night is whether they've had a face-to-face interaction with the candidate."
