HOW THE DEBATE WILL WORK: SECRET 100 WILL GET A SHOT AT QUIZZING CANDIDATES

David McGrath Schwartz

Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 | 7:26 a.m.

Call them the Silver State's Secret 100, the unknown faces of Nevada at Thursday's national Democratic presidential debate.

About 100 Nevadans will be sitting in the audience at Cox Pavilion, primed to inject state and Western issues during the second hour of the debate.

They will be selected by staff at CNN, which is carrying the debate. And whom the network will tap has been something of a mystery.

Advocacy groups, including AARP, the ONE anti-poverty campaign and the Culinary Union, say CNN staff asked them to recommend members of their organizations.

The cable network wants uncommitted Democrats who are likely to attend the caucus and were willing to submit a question in advance, said David Bohrman, CNN's Washington, D.C., bureau chief and producer of Thursday's debate.

The 100 will be picked to sit in the "red zone" - the designation by CNN staff for the seats directly in front of the stage at Cox Pavilion at UNLV. From their ranks, some will be chosen to pose their questions to candidates.

Bohrman said CNN was still mulling who should sit in the red zone. Just before the debate, CNN will talk to potential questioners and decide whom it will call on.

"This is highly flexible," he said. "We want to find out what's on their minds."

Groups are handling the attention in different ways, with some acknowledging their members' potential roles and others asking not to be named for fear of hurting their group's chances. None of the groups would disclose whom it specifically recommended to CNN.

AARP Nevada said it had provided names of three members who are regular volunteers for the seniors advocacy organization.

"We're hoping that the presidential candidates can offer bipartisan health care and financial security solutions," said Deborah Moore, spokeswoman of AARP Nevada.

Megan Jones, state director of ONE, said she didn't know whether any of the organization's members who were recommended made the cut.

The Culinary Union's political director, Pilar Weiss, said she wasn't sure, either, whether members the union nominated passed the network's muster.

The process has left some wondering just who will get to ask questions.

Democratic Party officials at the state and local level say they've been left in the dark.

Steve Fernlund, president of the Red Rock Democratic Club, said the need for secrecy makes some sense. "I suppose those people might get harangued by campaigns trying to plant questions."