In partnership with the League of Rural Voters, GenerationEngage will host an iChat conversation with 2008 Presidential Candidates on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Young adults from Raleigh and San Jose, California will connect via Apple's iChat videoconference technology with Republican and Democratic candidates gathered at the National Rural Summit in Ames, Iowa.  This interactive, candidate forum will focus on the digital divide and infrastructural disparities in our nation's inner-city and rural communities.

This teleconference on Saturday, October 27th will broadcast from Wake Technical Community College (9101 Fayetteville Rd. Raleigh, NC 27603), providing opportunity for local citizens to dialogue with our nation’s next President. NPR and C-SPAN will provide live coverage of this event. The audience is encouraged to think about questions pertaining to the topic and direct those questions to the participating candidates.  During the teleconference, each candidate will individually answer questions from the host venue as well as the satellite locations.

The following is a list of candidates that have either confirmed or will likely sign on within the next couple of days. The campaigns for those that will likely participate have been in contact with GenerationEngage and/or The League of Rural Voters staff expressing great interest:

    * 12:00 noon - Doors open for Pizza and College Football, sponsored by the SGA of Wake Technical Community College.
    * 1:30 pm - Sen. Hillary Clinton (Confirmed)
    * 2:10 pm – Sen. John Edwards (Confirmed)
    * 2:50 pm – Rep. Ron Paul (Confirmed)
    * 3:30 pm – Sen. Barack Obama (Confirmed)
    * 4:10 pm – Gov. Mitt Romney / Gov. Huckabee (Likely)

Our moderator for the afternoon is Al Cross, 30+ year veteran to the topic of rural concerns and Director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues; please see bio for a complete background on our moderator (bio. here).  

Dress for the afternoon is casual and comfortable; participants are asked to come ready to dialogue with some of today’s leading political figures. Those considering or those who would like to pose questions are asked to arrive no later than 12:20 pm; all in attendance are requested to arrive by 2:00 pm.  Please direct all questions, comments or concerns to John White at (919) 833-1280 or John.White@GenerationEngage.org.  On behalf of the GenerationEngage team, we look forward to your attendance and to a wonderful afternoon of pizza, football and politics!