Candidates, contestants and fairgoers converge on the 2015 Iowa State Fair

Sampling the pork chop on a stick. Snapping a selfie with the butter cow. Taking questions about foreign policy from hecklers.

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.

The 11-day event started Thursday, and most of the 2016 hopefuls will pass through, pausing to chomp on deep-fried snack foods, visit with locals out for a day of fun and spend some time on the political soapbox to talk with voters. (AP)

Here's a look.

Photographs by Khue Bui for Yahoo News

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