The Nevada Democratic Party has been promoting a presidential candidate forum scheduled to be held in three weeks, but so far only two candidates have RSVP'd: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
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Representatives of the other candidates' campaigns or exploratory committees were asked Thursday whether they were coming, and they either wouldn't commit or promised to find out and then never called back.
That may be because they were busy trying to get out of it. The Democratic National Committee was meeting in Washington, D.C., and representatives of some candidates are privately trying to get the party to cut down the number of such forums, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
Local party officials insist that the Nevada early Democratic caucus, scheduled by the national party last year to inject diversity into the nominating process, will be the big event they've promised. But there are signs that it could be like throwing a big party only to find out that no one likes you enough to bother to come.
"We chose the February date for several reasons," Nevada Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said. "We wanted to be one of the first to showcase the candidates, partly because we are new to the early primary process."
That might backfire, said Charlie Cook, one of the country's top political pundits and the author of the Cook Political Report.
"As the new kids on the block, I think Nevada needs to be careful not to have too many pre-caucus events that put too many demands on the candidates' time," Cook said in an interview. "Nevada has five of these cattle calls, and I think people are going to say, 'This is not worth it.' "
In addition, too much noise from Nevada only goads New Hampshire, the first primary state, where state officials appear determined to leapfrog Nevada by moving their election earlier, Cook said.
The current schedule has Nevada's caucus on Jan. 19, 2008, after the Iowa caucus and before the New Hampshire primary. South Carolina also has an early primary, with the rest of the states forbidden to have their contests before Feb. 5.
"The secretary of state in New Hampshire, preserving the sanctity of the New Hampshire primary is the only significant responsibility he has," Cook said. "If he feels that the New Hampshire primary is threatened, he'll move it up and let the chips fall where they may."
With Nevada new to the process, the Democratic campaigns are uncertain about whether it will be important to campaign here and are cautiously watching each other -- particularly front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton -- to figure it out, Cook said.
"Nevada's way out of the way. None of these campaigns have decided whether they're going to spend 1 percent, 5 percent or 15 percent of their time in Nevada, or whether they should just skip it because it's not worth the time it takes to get out there and back. The question is, can you win it or not, and if you win it, what is it worth?"
That uncertainty seemed to be borne out in calls to the top campaigns Thursday. All were asked whether their candidates were coming to the Feb. 21 forum, which is to be held in Carson City and is being sponsored by the powerful public employees' union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
A message left with the press contact at Hillary for President, Clinton's committee, was not returned.
Sen. Barack Obama's committee's spokesman, Bill Burton, said, "The schedule hasn't been worked out yet."
In a Wednesday conference call, Sen. Joe Biden was asked if he would come and answered, "It will depend on Senate business. My intent is that every place I can have a serious discussion with my fellow candidates to debate the issues, I will be there."
His spokeswoman, Annie Tomasini, did not return a call seeking more specific information.
Sen. John Edwards' campaign also did not respond to calls and e-mails. But his campaign manager, David Bonior, was quoted in the Associated Press complaining about the number of forums, saying, "There are a lot of them. You could spend your whole candidacy doing that; and there are a lot of things campaigns need to do, like raising money and meeting with ministers and other people."
Sen. Christopher Dodd's spokesman, Reid Wilson, promised to find out whether Dodd was coming, then didn't call back.
Vilsack's spokesman, Josh Earnest, was a different story. Vilsack will be in Nevada today for a panel discussion with Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson.
"Absolutely," Earnest said. "Nevada has been given an important role in choosing the next nominee, and it's a state where we expect Governor Vilsack's message of creating change in America and making us energy independent to be very well received."
Asked if the long flights West would be a hassle, Earnest said, "The great people of Nevada are worth every mile."
Searer said more candidates definitely will be at the Feb. 21 event. "We're having good discussions with presidential campaigns, we're just not ready to announce" who's coming, she said.
Searer said there were tentative agreements from the Dodd and Biden camps to make the trip.
"It's a prime opportunity for them to start reaching out to Nevadans, and we're the second state in the nation to have a presidential contest."
