VP Biden to campaign in Nevada next week

Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in Nevada next week, returning to the state to promote President Barack Obama just days before early voting kicks off Oct. 20, the Obama campaign announced Wednesday.

Biden will campaign in Reno on Monday and in Las Vegas on Tuesday - the same day that Obama and his GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, square off in their second of three televised debates.

No details on Biden's Nevada campaign stops were immediately available.

Biden and Romney's running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are scheduled to debate tonight in Kentucky in the contenders' only face-off before the Nov. 6 election.

There are high expectations for the vice presidential debate and the two remaining presidential debates, Tuesday and Oct. 22, after Obama's lackluster performance against Romney on Oct. 3 in their first face-off.

Polls in Nevada and in other battleground states show the White House contest tightening. A new poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Obama edging Romney here 47 percent to 46 percent.

Both Ryan and Biden have recently visited Nevada, one of the battleground states that will decide the election.

Over the summer, Biden spoke at a Hispanic conference and at a convention for disabled veterans in Las Vegas.

After his Nevada stop, Biden plans to campaign Tuesday in Colorado, another Western state up for grabs.

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