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Crews prepare huge set before CNN's Tuesday GOP debate

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  Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal

  Podiums for the candidates sit Sunday on the set being built for a debate on CNN featuring GOP presidential contenders, scheduled Tuesday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. » Buy this photo

Podiums for the candidates sit Sunday on the set being built for a debate on CNN featuring GOP presidential contenders, scheduled Tuesday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. At the first CNN presidential debate this campaign season, 5-foot-2 Michele Bachmann asked for a height-raising block to stand on behind the lectern . Her request was granted and then all the other candidates seeking equal treatment got risers, too, even 6-foot-2 Mitt Romney. Now, it's the same setup every time. The candidates also each get a bottle of water, paper and pen. And before the debate begins each contender, one by one, stands separately on stage to test the lighting, to find out how a suit or tie appears on camera and to ensure there's a direct-line view of a spouse sitting in the audience. "They want to feel comfortable," said Keith Thornhill, CNN's project manager for the debate. MASSIVE PREPARATIONS, SHORT TIME FRAME From dealing with the GOP contenders' nerves to building the massive red, white and blue TV stage set inside an airplane hangar-size convention hall in Las Vegas, the crew putting together the CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate is leaving nothing to chance. And CNN is on a hurry-up schedule to finish work before going live at 5 p.m. Tuesday, the first event to kick off the four-day Western Republican Leadership Conference, co-sponsor of the debate. Normally, it takes six days to build the CNN debate set, which has been used in two previous debates co-sponsored by the network in New Hampshire in June and in Florida in September. The flashy set also will be used in three more scheduled CNN co-sponsored debates through January . For the Las Vegas event, CNN had just three days to build the 45,000-square-foot set, including a couple of huge monitors, a chandelier of stars and seating for 1,500 audience members inside The Venetian's Sands Expo and Convention Center. Dozens of union stagehands, lighting technicians and other specialists were working around the clock starting over the weekend. LAS VEGAS' EXPERT CREWS A tour of the work in progress revealed a buzz of activity -- black-garbed workers using boom lifts and other heavy equipment to rig the set, unload 20 trucks full of gear and test it all to make sure it worked. The political circus had come to town, minus only the big white tents. "We practiced for this in Tampa," Thornhill said, explaining CNN knew it wouldn't have a lot of time to build the set in Las Vegas because another convention show had the space through Friday night. Thornhill said he wasn't worried, however, because Las Vegas is used to big convention shows coming and going and the city's crews are expert at quickly putting up and taking down events. "The labor here is top-notch," Thornhill said Saturday after pulling an all-night work session. HUNTSMAN: THE MISSING CANDIDATE The Las Vegas debate will be like the Florida event, except for one change: Jon Huntsman won't be on stage. He's boycotting the event to protest Nevada setting its GOP presidential caucus for Jan. 14. The New Hampshire secretary of state is objecting to the date and Huntsman is siding with the Granite State in the early voting calendar tiff as he focuses all his efforts on the traditional first primary state. "With the exception of the missing candidate, it should look the same," Thornhill said. more http://www.lvrj.com/news/crews-prepare-huge-set-before-cnn-s-tuesday-gop-debate-131967488.html?ref=488 Las Vegas (CNN) -- Republicans and Democrats are holding conferences in Las Vegas this week and seven of the leading GOP contenders are participating in a CNN debate here Tuesday -- evidence, activists in both parties say, that the state could play a pivotal role not only in the race for the Republican presidential nomination but also in the general election. "Where Nevada goes so goes the presidency," Republican political consultant Robert Uithoven said noting the state's history of correctly choosing the eventual winner of the White House in general elections. While President Barack Obama easily won Nevada in 2008 and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was re-elected last year, Republican Brian Sandoval won the governorship in 2010. In presidential politics, it has become a swing state -- one both parties believe could be critical to capturing the White House. Key issues confronting the nation -- unemployment, foreclosures and illegal immigration -- are playing out front and center here and can offer opportunities as well as pitfalls for each party. The state reported the highest unemployment in the nation in August at 13.4% and its home foreclosure rankings also were the highest in the country. more http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/17/politics/nevada-preview/index.html

CNN Poll: Two-thirds of Republicans say minds are not made up

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