For Immediate Release

Barbara LeBlanc, Director of News and Information, Saint Anselm College, (603) 641-7241 or bleblanc@anselm.edu

Brookings Office of Communications, (202) 797-6105 or communications@brookings.edu

DEBATE PREVIEW: Opportunity 08 Heads to Saint Anselm College in Manchester on September 26 to Debate Key Domestic Issues Facing Presidential Candidates In New Hampshire Primary

Former Senator Warren Rudman; Brookings President Strobe Talbott; Bush Health Care Advisor Mark McClellan; Presidential Advisors and Opportunity 08 Co-Chairs Tom Donilon and Ken Duberstein and others to participate

Manchester, NH – On the morning of the presidential debate to be held in New Hampshire, the Brookings Institution and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College are hosting an Opportunity 08 forum focusing on the hotly debated topics of health care and the budget.

The forum, featuring distinguished expert panelists from Washington, D.C., and New Hampshire, will begin at 9:30 a.m. on September 26, in the Auditorium at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.

Participants will preview the issues to be discussed at the presidential debate at Dartmouth, and provide ideas for controlling health care costs, improving health care quality, and addressing the budget deficit.

Opportunity O8 Forum Agenda

Welcome from NHIOP Executive Director Dr. Paul Manuel

Remarks by Brookings President and Former Clinton Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott

Remarks by former Senator Warren Rudman

Panel One – Political Analysis

· Dr. Shep Melnick, former New Hampshire state legislator and current Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics at Boston College provides overview

· Senator Rudman moderates discussion with Tom Donilon and Ken Duberstein, key national Democratic and Republican strategists and co-chairs of Opportunity 08 and

· Jennifer Donahue, senior advisor at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College

Panel Two – The Budget and Health Care: Solutions for our Next President

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* Senator Rudman provides overview and moderates a discussion with:

· Mark McClellan, Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings and former health care policy advisor to President George W. Bush

· Henry Aaron, Brookings Senior Fellow and former health care advisor to President Carter.

· Bob Bixby, Executive Director of the Concord Coalition

· Isabell Sawhill, Co-director of the Center on Children and Families at Brookings and former budget advisor to President Clinton.

The forums are part of Opportunity 08, a project of the Brookings Institution in partnership with ABC News, to help presidential candidates and the public focus on critical issues facing the nation. For more information about Opportunity 08 visit www.opportunity08.org

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THE NEW HAMPSHIRE INSTITUTE OF POLITICS at Saint Anselm College was established in 2001 to serve as a resource for students, scholars, politicians, and the general public. Founded on the premise that engaged citizens are vital for a healthy democracy, the Institute conducts programs and research that are designed to enlighten and encourage people for a lifetime of civic participation. For more information, visit www.anselm.edu/nhiop.

The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. For more than 90 years, Brookings has analyzed current and emerging issues and produced new ideas that matter – for the nation and the world. For more information, visit www.brookings.edu or www.opportunity08.org.