Dems to debate in Las Vegas again

The Democratic presidential candidates’ debate a month ago brought swarms of attention to Nevada and its first-time early nominating caucus. A month from now, it will happen again.

The Nevada Democratic Party announced Thursday that cable channel MSNBC will broadcast the Jan. 15 debate on "black-brown issues," co-sponsored by black and Hispanic advocacy groups and held at Cashman Center.

That’s a week after the New Hampshire primaries and four days before Nevada Democrats and Republicans hold party caucuses to choose presidential candidates.

The first contests, in Iowa, are less than three weeks away.

The Nov. 15 debate, held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was broadcast on CNN and watched live by more than 4 million people. For many, locally and nationally, it provided the introduction to Nevada’s new prominence in the political process.

"The race is tightening up, and it looks like Nevada could be a deciding factor in determining the next presidential nominee," state Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Kirsten Searer said. "This debate will come at a critical time. It could prove to be one of the most important events of the election cycle."

No moderator has been selected for the Jan. 15 debate, which was previously scheduled but did not have a broadcast outlet until Thursday.

Previous MSNBC debates have been moderated by NBC’s Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Chris Matthews.

Although Iowa and New Hampshire get more emphasis, the state party says Nevada, the third major Democratic contest, may still be crucial to the man or woman who would be the nominee.

In the news release announcing the debate details Thursday, Nevada Democrats laid out three possible scenarios: The caucuses here, they said, stand to be "a circuit breaker that halts the momentum of the candidate that wins both earlier contests; the tiebreaker if two candidates split the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses; or the validator for a candidate who wins all three."

"Nevada will play a critical role in the selection of our nominee as the first test in the West and the first test of the Hispanic vote," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in the news release.

The decision to spotlight minority issues in the debate is meant to accentuate Nevada’s large minority population, about 40 percent. The state’s racial diversity was part of the reason Democrats wanted to hold an early presidential contest here; traditional early states Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white.

Those issues include economic development, education, health care and the war in Iraq, according to the party.

The groups co-sponsoring the debate are the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; IMPACTO, the political action committee affiliated with the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce; 100 Black Men of America; and the College of Southern Nevada.

"We are happy that the voters of Nevada will have another opportunity to hear from our candidates before the January 19th caucus," state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jill Derby said in the news release, calling the planned event "historic."

Invitations haven’t officially been issued to the campaigns, and the network hasn’t yet decided which candidates it will allow to participate.

Of five candidate "cattle call" events announced by the state Democratic Party at the beginning of the year, most have been a success, despite initial worries that the candidates might not be willing to attend them all.

Almost all the major candidates attended two forums, one in Carson City in February and one in Las Vegas in March, even though the latter wasn’t televised. Last month’s UNLV debate was a blockbuster featuring the top seven candidates.

An August debate planned for Reno, however, was canceled after liberal activists objected to the party’s attempt to team up with Fox News.

Nevada Republicans, whose caucus has received substantially less candidate attention than the Democrats’, don’t currently have any forums or debates planned.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.