League of Rural Voters Invites Candidates to Ames

Lance Armstrong is holding discussions with candidates about cancer research and prevention policy. The Tour de France winner and cancer survivor was clearly disappointed in how few candidates accepted his invitation to talk in Cedar Rapids. This video was produced by the fine reporters at the Iowa Independent [1].

The League of Rural Voters [2] has asked all the presidential candidates to come to a “rural summit" in Ames, Iowa. The National Summit on Agriculture and Rural Life will be held October 27.

The Summit will “will examine emerging issues and economic development trends within rural regions and communities nationwide, with a focus on federal strategies to support the new and emerging realities of rural America," League of Rural Voters executive director E. Niel Ritchie wrote in a letter sent to each presidential candidate. Ritchie said each candidate would be given time during the day to address the 400 people he expects to attend the Summit.

This is the second time since June rural organizations have tried to entice presidential candidates to a gathering of rural policy-makers. In June, only Sen. Hillary Clinton made a live appearance before the National Rural Assembly in Northern Virginia — and that was via a satellite hook-up from her Senate offices.

The preliminary agenda for the Summit has set aside time for discussions of bio-fuels, globalization, immigration and technology. The event will be held on the campus of Iowa State University. On October 26th, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is organizing a Rural Youth Conference, also in Ames.

You can contact the League about the Summit at (612) 879-7578; or email info@leagueofruralvoters.org [3].