Iowa Straw Poll: Live Coverage in Ames All Day

When the doors to the 2011 Iowa Straw Poll open at 9 a.m., Patch will be on the Iowa State University campus in Ames covering the action throughout the day and into the evening. 

Our reporters will launch a live blog at 8:30 a.m. and will capture what's going on inside the Hilton Coliseum and around the campus throughout the day with stories, pictures and live video. We'll also tweet the latest developments. You can join in on the fun and ask us questions about the event as it unfolds, and share your thoughts about the speeches, the spectacle and, ultimately, the votes.

We hope you'll hang out with us; it should be quite an interesting and important day.

Here are some scheduled events that you can look for:

9 a.m. - Straw Poll begins

Noon - Official program begins

12:15 p.m. - Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn delivers remarks

12:30 p.m.  - Strawn welcomes the candidates and they appear on stage together and pretend the barbs from Thursday's debate never happened.

12:40 p.m. - Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum delivers remarks

1:15 p.m. - U.S. Rep. Ron Paul delivers remarks

1:50 p.m. - Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty delivers remarks

2:20 p.m. - U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann delivers remarks

2:50 p.m. - U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter delivers remarks

3:15 p.m. - Businessman Herman Cain delivers remarks

4 p.m. - Straw Poll voting closes. Results are scheduled to be announced around 6 p.m.; write-in votes are allowed this year, so the count might be a bit slower than usual.