AP: GOP plans Sioux City debate (week before the Feb. 6 caucuses)

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110215/NEWS01/702159861/0#gop-plans-sioux-city-debate

Published Tuesday February 15, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republican Party will sponsor a second presidential candidate debate with Fox News in Sioux City in the week before the caucuses, GOP officials said Tuesday.

It will be the first presidential debate to be held in northwest Iowa, an area long-dominated by Republicans, Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said.

"I think this means exciting things, not just for Iowa Republicans but for Republicans nationally," said Strawn, who announced the debate at a Sioux City news conference.

"We've got a lot of Republicans up here and rather than watch a debate hundreds of miles away, they get to participate." Strawn told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The first debate sponsored by Fox and the state GOP will be held Aug. 11 at Iowa State University. That's two days before the party holds its high-profile straw poll, also in Ames. Party spokesman Casey Mills said the second debate would be held sometime in the week before the Feb. 6 caucuses at the historic Orpheum Theater.

FULL story at link.