GOP debate in Iowa to be broadcast live

The Des Moines Register and Tribune Candidate Forum will be broadcast live from Des Moines over PBS Saturday night from 8:30 to 10:30, eastern standard time. Six of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination will appear: Rep. John B. Anderson of Illinois, Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee, George Bush, John B. Connally, Rep. Philip M. Crane of Illinois, and Sen. Robert Dole of Kansas. Front-runner Ronald Reagan will be missing.

CBS will carry a delayed tape of the Forum from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

ABC and NBC will not carry the full program, but will include excerpts in its regular news programs.

he Democratic side of the Forum, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been tentatively canceled, since President Carter has declined to appear, Monitor TV critic Arthur Unger reports.

But the Register and Tribune has been talking with the White House to see whether something can be worked out.