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For eight Democrats running for president, Wednesday's forum at the Carson City Community Center is the first step toward getting Nevada's support for the nomination.
For Carson-area residents, the noon forum is a rare chance to see presidential contenders live and up close.
About 1,000 tickets have been distributed to actually attend the event, about 600 at the community center and 400 for a live telecast to a conference room at the Nevada Appeal's building on Mallory Way. The vast majority of the tickets went to members of the American Federation of State, and Municipal Employees.
Nevada became important in the 2008 presidential contest after the Democratic National Committee decided to hold caucuses in the state Jan. 19. Those caucuses, which will decide which candidates get the state's delegates to the national party convention next summer, are just after Iowa's caucuses, but before New Hampshire's primary. Having one of the first major events of the campaign season gives Nevada much more visibility nationally than the state's traditional midsummer convention. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said it would focus more attention on issues important to Nevada and the West, which he said will be key to Democratic victory in 2008.
Those scheduled to speak at the forum are U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware, former Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Mike Gravel of Arkansas, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
The only Democratic front-runner to miss the forum is Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. His staff cited a scheduling conflict.
Obama was, however, in the state Sunday, speaking to a crowd of 3,500 at an outdoor rally in Las Vegas.
For those who can't get tickets, ABC News Now, an online offering of the network and C-SPAN and Charter Cable 19 plan to televise the forum live.
Each of the candidates will appear alone on stage and be given two minutes for opening remarks before taking three questions from ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos. One of the three questions will be submitted by AFSCME as sponsor of the event. The candidates have three minutes to answer each question and another minute to make closing remarks.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.
For Carson-area residents, the noon forum is a rare chance to see presidential contenders live and up close.
About 1,000 tickets have been distributed to actually attend the event, about 600 at the community center and 400 for a live telecast to a conference room at the Nevada Appeal's building on Mallory Way. The vast majority of the tickets went to members of the American Federation of State, and Municipal Employees.
Nevada became important in the 2008 presidential contest after the Democratic National Committee decided to hold caucuses in the state Jan. 19. Those caucuses, which will decide which candidates get the state's delegates to the national party convention next summer, are just after Iowa's caucuses, but before New Hampshire's primary. Having one of the first major events of the campaign season gives Nevada much more visibility nationally than the state's traditional midsummer convention. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said it would focus more attention on issues important to Nevada and the West, which he said will be key to Democratic victory in 2008.
Those scheduled to speak at the forum are U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware, former Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Mike Gravel of Arkansas, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
The only Democratic front-runner to miss the forum is Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. His staff cited a scheduling conflict.
Obama was, however, in the state Sunday, speaking to a crowd of 3,500 at an outdoor rally in Las Vegas.
For those who can't get tickets, ABC News Now, an online offering of the network and C-SPAN and Charter Cable 19 plan to televise the forum live.
Each of the candidates will appear alone on stage and be given two minutes for opening remarks before taking three questions from ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos. One of the three questions will be submitted by AFSCME as sponsor of the event. The candidates have three minutes to answer each question and another minute to make closing remarks.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.
