The Des Moines Register:

Republican presidential candidates will gather ’round the table at Thanksgiving-time in Des Moines.

The Family Leader, an Iowa-based conservative Christian advocacy group, is sponsoring a “Thanksgiving Family Forum” in November that will bring together several of the contestants in next year’s Iowa caucuses.

Candidates Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum have already RSVP’d for the event, and Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have been invited.

The event will not be a formal debate, but will feature a moderator leading a discussion with the candidates about “issues affecting the family.”

The event is scheduled for Nov. 19 — less than three months ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses — at the First Federated Church in Des Moines. Organizers expect about 2,500 attendees...

CitizenLink and the National Organization for Marriage are cosponsoring the event. All the groups focus on social conservative issues like opposition to abortion and gay marriage.