Obama visit to Las Vegas to be on heels of CNN Republican presidential debate

By Karoun Demirjian

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 | 12:22 p.m.

President Barack Obama will be coming to Las Vegas Oct. 24, the White House confirmed, just about one year after his last campaign visit.

Last October, he came to town to stump for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was facing a tough re-election battle for his Senate seat against Republican Sharron Angle.

This year, Reid’s not up for reelection — Obama is.

But this election season is still about both of them.

Obama’s facing a tough challenge from a wide GOP field: in national polling, both front runners, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry, have already closed the projected election gap with the president to a few percentage points.

Obama carried Nevada by more than 12 points in 2008; but keeping the state in his own reelection column isn’t the President’s only consideration for Nevada in 2012. If Obama’s wants to have an effective second term as president, he needs to keep the Senate in the hands of current Majority Leader Harry Reid, and that’s a road that likely runs through the race for Nevada’s Senate seat.

Current Rep. Shelley Berkley, Democrat, and current Sen. Dean Heller, Republican, are facing off for the position that was vacated when John Ensign resigned in May. Heller was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval to serve out the rest of his term.

The White House and the Obama campaign have not released an itinerary of the President’s plans while he is in Las Vegas. Obama is currently on a national tour promoting his $450 billion jobs bill, which he says will get the workforce — especially the construction workforce — back on the job by investing in infrastructure. Reid has said the Senate would try to vote on that proposal next month.

But you can’t ignore the timing of Obama’s visit. He arrives just days after the close of the four-day Western Republican Leadership Conference, a gathering of the national GOP that gets kicked off on Oct. 18 with a live CNN-sponsored debate from the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas — an even that’s expected to bring all the GOP presidential contenders to town.

Democrats have also scheduled a two-day prequel event to the GOP’s much-publicized affair for the end of the week prior: the New West Summit, as it is being called, will feature elected Democratic representatives from around the West, including Reid.