McCain and Obama to speak at New York September 11 forum

By Gary Crosse

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have agreed to speak at a New York City forum on public service to be held on September 11, the organizers said on Thursday.

Senators Obama and McCain will speak at the "ServiceNation Summit" in New York, billed as a nonpartisan forum to address the events of September 11 and the importance of national service, said ServiceNation, a coalition of groups promoting civic engagement.

Republican McCain and Democrat Obama will speak separately at a forum called "A Nation of Service," and have been asked to "discuss their respective visions for the role of service in America's future," the organizers said.

The public has been invited to submit questions to the presidential candidates (here).

A group of September 11 victims' families earlier this week appealed to the candidates to suspend all campaigning on the anniversary of the 2001 attacks as a show of respect.

The group called MyGoodDeed.org, formed in 2003 with the aim of transforming September 11 into a national day of charitable service, invited the two presidential candidates to attend the meeting, urging them to put aside partisanship for the day.

Democrats and Republicans will be holding hold back-to-back conventions over the next two weeks at which the White House hopefuls will be officially nominated as the parties' candidates for the November 4 election.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001, when four hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.

(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons; editing by Michelle Nichols)