When the Lansdowne on the Potomac homeowners board brought up the idea of inviting candidates to speak to the community at a meeting a few months ago, two residents came forward to volunteer. Over the last two months, Beverly Bradford and Dave Nemetz have worked to coordinate and organize Wednesday's candidate forum for the Broad Run and Catoctin districts.

"The ultimate goal was to get the Broad Run, 32nd House and 33rd Senate candidates," Nemetz said. "Then come to find out that we have some of our community in the Catoctin district. Lansdowne is split like 90/10 Broad Run/Catoctin, so we modified the program to include the other candiates."

As you may have heard, a number of local Republican candidates did not attend the League of Women Voters events because they were not hosting a state representative and senatorial debate. Now that this community group has a format in which all of those representatives are invited, only Joe May, a Republican candidate for the 33rd District for the Virginia House of Representatives, will not attend. Nemetz was told May has a scheduling conflict.

Following is the schedule and candidates you will be able to meet and hear from:

7 p.m. Virginia House of Delegates District 32: David Poisson (D), Incumbent; Lynn Chapman (R), Challenger

7:30 p.m. Virginia Senate District 33: Mark Herring (D), Incumbent; Patricia B. Phillips (R), Challenger

8 p.m. Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Broad Run District: Lori Waters (R), Incumbent; Phyllis Randall (D), Challenger; Jack Ryan (I), Challenger

8:45 - 9 p.m. Intermission

9 p.m. Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Catoctin District: Sally R. "Sally" Kurtz (D), Incumbent; Geary Higgins (R), Challenger

9:30 p.m. Virginia House of Delegates District 33: Fernando "Marty" Martinez (D), Challenger; Joe T. May (R), Incumbent

(Bios for each candidate are available in the Election pages of LoudounExtra.com.)

"Since the West Goose Creek residents have the lawsuit against town of Leesburg for the 100% increase in water rates, they strongly urged us to bring the candidates in," said Nemetz. "I think we'll get good representation from them, but we're hoping for more people to attend."

Channel 9's Peggy Fox will be the moderator. She had done a story about the daycare issue a few months back, and "she knows a little about the community" so when they asked her, Nemetz said, Fox agreed. She will also be doing on-camera interviews with the candidates for the WUSA election guide.

The organizers said that 10 out of the 11 candidates responded enthusiastically and have agreed that they will not bring supporters to lobby residents outside the club. "We are putting together packets for everone who attends, so if the candidates submitted literature, they will be included in the packet," said Nemetz.

The candiate forum is Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the Potomac Club, 43459 Riverpoint Drive and is open to the general public, not just Lansdowne residents.

"Come find out what your representatives want to do for you or plan to do for you after this election cycle is over," said Nemetz. "We just want people to get involved -- the local elections affect you significantly more than the national elections."