Obama plans Sunday return to Las Vegas

President Barack Obama plans to campaign in Las Vegas on Sunday ahead of the first presidential debate Oct. 3 in Colorado, another Western swing state, a campaign official confirmed Monday.

No details were available.

It will be the president's eighth trip to Nevada this year and his 15th since he became president in 2009.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, too, has focused a lot of attention on Nevada. He held his most recent rally in Las Vegas last Friday during his sixth visit to the state since April and his 16th trip to the state in two years.

Early voting starts Oct. 20 in Nevada and continues for two weeks before the Nov. 6 election.

That leaves little time for Obama and Romney to gain the winning momentum in Nevada, one of about one dozen battleground states that are the most hotly contested in the nation.

Recent polls show the president edging out Romney in the Silver State and several other swing states, raising the stakes for the upcoming debates.

The Oct. 3 debate in Denver is one of three scheduled between Obama and Romney. The other two are Oct. 16 in New York and Oct. 22 in Florida.

Each 90-minute debate will be broadcast live starting at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC and all cable news channels, including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow @lmyerslvrj on Twitter.