Heartland Forum Attendance Ticket Requests Nearing Three Thousand People

Presidential Candidate Event Set to Be Final Major Forum Before First Vote is Cast in 2008 Primaries

For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 27, 2007
Contact: Germonique Jones 202-339-9331, Kristin Schaaf 515-255-0800

(Des Moines, Iowa) Ticket requests for “The Heartland Presidential Forum” have reached 2,500 with hundreds more requests pouring in.  In what is likely the final major candidate forum before the first vote is cast in the 2008 primaries, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and coalitions of other community organizations will bring thousands of Iowans and people from across the Heartland to a unique one-on-one dialogue with candidates from both major parties to HyVee Hall on December 1, 2007 at 1:30pm.  

“There is a strong desire to attend this event because people understand that we’re creating an environment that will cut through the political spin and get to the real issues of community values,” says Hugh Espey, executive director, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement “We’re able to organize members and regular people from across Iowa and the Heartland and bring real stories of people in a unique format that we’re just not seeing with other candidate forums.”

With members in 98 of the 99 counties in Iowa and with sister organizations on both the local and national level providing support, Iowa CCI expects the numbers to reach five thousand by December 1.   Sixty percent of those in attendance will be from Iowa and are undecided likely caucus goers.

The five thousand gathered will provide an awesome sight as they surround an intimate living room like stage setting, where a few dozen citizens sitting on stage will await the candidate’s entrance for a real conversation about a critical social issue that impacts us all.  Personal stories will be shared and another person will follow up the personal story with a related question.  No candidate will interact with another candidate on stage.