The 2008 presidential election is the first "open seat" contest for the presidency since 1952, meaning it will feature neither an incumbent president nor an incumbent vice president as a candidate. Perhaps it is this reason, this free-for-all feeling, that has candidates raising money and running their mouths on the campaign trail so early.

Regardless of the reason, candidates are articulating their positions and attempting to build their campaigns at an early stage (the election is 17 months away) because, if they don't, they risk being lost in the mix.

The issues that will define the 2008 election have been forming since last year's midterm election, if not since the 2004 presidential election, and the candidates are beginning to pick and choose which of these they will focus on and which they will carefully avoid. Of course, there is the obvious issue that will be at the center of all campaigns, whether the candidates want it to be or not - the war in Iraq.

Other issues one can safely assume will be of great importance in the coming election include those related to education, health, immigration and business. While there will never be enough room for every issue to receive proper attention, one issue has begun to emerge as a potentially important one for this election - a new urban agenda.

A new urban agenda is not an issue as much as it is a collection of issues and concerns about the future stability and quality of America's urban cities.

The agenda's recent emergence may be partially attributed to Hurricane Katrina. While the disaster exposed the American government's lack of preparedness and insufficient ability to manage such a disaster, it also drew attention to the poverty and, seemingly spiraling, predicaments of our inner cities. From failing schools to unfair or unsafe housing, there is an urgent need for a significant, coordinated and innovative new urban agenda at the national level.

This new urban agenda is a vague term, but it should address a wide variety of concerns about the essential components of a functional and desirable urban community. A candidate who articulates and supports a strong urban agenda must address these issues, including: crime, economic development, transportation, access to healthy food, quality of education, housing practices and quality, job training, community development, employment opportunities, poverty, hunger, homelessness, justice, prisoner re-entry and much more.

So far, none of the major candidates have fully embraced a coordinated new urban agenda as a central part of their campaign. However, there is significant demand for candidates to take such a stand on these issues, as evidenced by one presidential candidate's recent visit to Detroit.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., spoke before the Detroit Economic Club last month at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. Obama's main speaking points were about the automobile industry, alternative fuels and fuel efficiency.

While these are important and timely issues, especially to the business leaders he was addressing, there was demand for more.

A few days prior to the speaking engagement, Obama had done an interview with the Michigan Chronicle that focused primarily on his plans for a new urban agenda, and though it would not be printed until several days after the event, it may have set the tone for the public's reaction to Obama.

While the topic for the day was the auto industry, the talk among many of the hundreds in attendance was about what Obama would do for America's urban centers. Although only a few of the many questions submitted were actually asked of Obama, it was clear the audience was concerned about how an Obama presidency would affect cities like Detroit.

While some candidates, such as Obama, have begun to embrace some aspects of an urban agenda in the framing and positioning of their campaigns, none have yet brought this agenda to the forefront.

Urban issues affect not only those who live in the traditionally defined urban areas, but all people in these metropolitan communities. According to the 2000 Census, 80.3 percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas.

With at least 80.3 percent of Americans directly or indirectly affected by the conditions of the country's urban areas, when will a presidential candidate step up and make the issue of a "new urban agenda" his or her own? Seventeen months remain to answer that question.

Ryan Dinkgrave is a public relations graduate student and State News columnist. Reach him at dinkgra2@msu.edu.