Obama’s Cruces event won’t be open to the public

What Barack Obama’s campaign previously said would be a public visit to Las Cruces by the Democratic presidential candidate on Monday will instead be a closed event attended by Gov. Bill Richardson, the media and some local veterans and their families.

Though the Obama campaign has released the location of the event to the media for planning purposes, its news release also states that the venue is “not for publication or broadcast.” Details on the event had not been previously released, except for the statement that it would be public.

Being certain that many people will be disappointed, I asked the Obama campaign for comment on the change to a private event.

“Senator Obama and Governor Richardson are commemorating Memorial Day in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” said Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage. “Senator Obama will be discussing the importance of keeping our sacred trust with our nation’s veterans with local veterans and their families.”

That’s about all I can tell you, except that I plan to cover the event, which is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. Check my site later Monday for complete coverage. My guess, because it’s Memorial Day, is that the event will also be covered by the national news channels.