John Edwards to Air Views at AARP Forum Tonight

AARP, IPTV 2008 Presidential Candidate Forums in Davenport and Sioux City

AARP and Iowa Public Television (IPTV) will be holding two Presidential Candidate forums focused on the issues of health care and financial security on Sept. 20 in Davenport and Oct. 25 in Sioux City.

At the September 20 event, Democratic candidates committed to participating and meeting forum criteria include: U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, former U.S. Senator John Edwards, U.S. Senator Joe Biden and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. All of the Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in the October 25 forum. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and U.S. Senator John McCain have confirmed they will participate.

The forums will be broadcast live from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. (CT) both nights, and will be aired on PBS stations across the country. Judy Woodruff , senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will moderate the 90-minute discussions.

The Adler Theatre in Davenport will be the site for the Sept. 20 forum with the Democratic candidates and the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City will be the site for the Oct. 25 Republican candidate forum.

BW readers will note that Barack Obama will not be attending. Instead, he will be at a fundraiser in Atlanta. I guess discussing older people's issues aren't his thing, or Barack cannot keep up with the demands of a campaign except DNC sanctioned ones. Well, this is his first real campaign. Not easy to do.

I'll be watching at 7 on WILL, my local PBS station to hear JRE, Dodd, Richardson, and what others will have to say.

I hope all of the questions will be substantive.