The Iowa State Fair opens today and runs through Sunday, August 23. The hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend will include eighteen presidential candidates. Their speeches on the Des Moines Register’s “soapbox” will be live streamed here. I’ve posted the current schedule after the jump, but it’s worth checking the Register’s site for possible changes.

As Catherine Lucey of the Associated Press observed, “For those who would be president, a visit to the Iowa State Fair may be the purest distillation of the campaign experience in the state that starts the voting in the race for the White House.” Most of the time, appearances on the Register’s soapbox are no more newsworthy than the average stump speech, but you never know when something important will happen. Mitt Romney infamously said “Corporations are people, my friend,” during the 2011 Iowa State Fair. Democrats across the country seized on those remarks to portray Romney as too business-friendly (which didn’t stop Iowa Democratic officialdom from later bashing the group whose heckling tactics provoked the Romney gaffe).

Last year, I shared my best advice about Iowa State Fair attractions and food. Your tips or any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

Presidential candidates expected on the Des Moines Register’s “soapbox”; click here for live video.

Thursday, August 13

10:30 am: former Arkansas Governor and 2008 Iowa caucuses winner Mike Huckabee (Republican)

1 pm: former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia (Democrat)

4 pm: former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (Democrat)

Friday, August 14

9:30 am: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (Republican)

Saturday, August 15

11 am: former U.S. senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (Republican)

11:30 am: Former Rhode Island Governor and U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee (Democrat)

2 pm: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont (Democrat)

Sunday, August 16

4 pm: Dr. Ben Carson (Republican)

4:30 pm: former New York Governor George Pataki (Republican)

Monday, August 17

10 am: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (Republican)

12 pm: business leader Carly Fiorina (Republican)

3 pm: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (Republican)

Tuesday, August 18

10:30 am: U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida (Republican)

4 pm: Ohio Governor John Kasich (Republican)

Wednesday, August 19

10 am: former Texas Governor Rick Perry (Republican)

Friday, August 21

1:30 pm: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas (Republican)

Saturday, August 22

11 am: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Republican)

12 pm: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (Republican)

2 pm: Mark Everson, former Internal Revenue Service commissioner (Republican) [I’d never heard of him or his presidential campaign before seeing his name on the Register’s schedule.]