Thanksgiving Family Forum
CANDIDATES: Sitting shoulder to shoulder around a “Thanksgiving table” facing the audience on Saturday will be Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann.
DRESS CODE: Organizer Bob Vander Plaats said the audience attire will be “business casual,” but the candidates were asked “to dress like they’re going to Thanksgiving dinner.”
MODERATORS: Frank Luntz, a Fox News contributor who has turned political focus groups into a speciality, will moderate one hour and 40 minutes of the two-hour program. Officials from two groups will each lead 10-minute segments. Tom Minnery, executive director of CitizenLink, an affiliate of the the Colorado-based Focus on the Family, will do one. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, will do the other.
WHEN: Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Organizers are requiring a photo ID for security. The forum runs from 4 to 6 p.m.
WHERE: The audience will sit in pews at the First Federated Church in Des Moines, which has a capacity of 3,400. So far, just over 1,500 people have bought the $40 tickets for the event.
MEDIA: Dozens of political reporters are expected. No major network is booked to do live coverage, but it will be live-streamed at
www.citizenlink.com.
FOCUS GROUP: Afterward, Luntz will pull 25 Iowa moms from the audience to do a focus group on their reactions to the candidates. That interview will be part of a special that airs on Fox News on Nov. 23, he said.
