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SANTA FE — When Sen. Lynda Lovejoy ran for president of the Navajo Nation last year, her campaign registered 5,000 new voters in three states.

That number of new American Indian voters likely was historic.

And Lovejoy hopes the same thing will happen in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

"I think there will be more voters, especially younger people who will be probably interested," said Lovejoy, a former state representative and the first Navajo woman to serve in the state House of Representatives.

Organizers are hoping to tap into that interest with something: a debate that will bring all the Democratic candidates vying for president to Indian Country.

Representatives of the Indigenous Democratic Network this week are expected to decide on a location for the debate, called Prez on the Rez.

The two finalists are New Mexico's Sandia Pueblo and a reservation of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Palm Springs, Calif.

The debate is slated for Aug. 23.

No matter which location wins, the event signals the growing importance of American Indian voters in the United States, said Kalyn Free, who works for the network.

"We don't expect the next president to win the White House without the support of Indian Country," she said.

"Tribal leaders will be making endorsements after they hear what candidates have to say about bringing Indian Country onto equal footing with everyone else," said Free, who also is an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee.

Gov. Bill Richardson's deputy campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, said Richardson is "very interested" in the event.

"I think all the candidates should be interested."

Richardson on Tuesday called on Congress to support funding for American Indian health care programs and to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Richardson, whose now-defunct Moving America Forward Political Action Committee focused on registering Hispanic and American Indian voters, is just one of the 10 candidates whom organizers hope to see at the event.

Amber Jordan, a spokeswoman for Sandia Pueblo, is optimistic Sandia will be the site.

"It's a battleground state in New Mexico," she said. "We can call the vote."

Potentially 60,000 American Indians could vote in New Mexico, Jordan said. Those voters typically are Democrats.

That's a sizable number, considering Sen. John Kerry lost to President Bush in 2004 by 6,000 votes.

"Now, we're starting to be a force to reckon with," she said. "We're getting involved at a grass-roots level."

Tribes are working together on water rights, education, infrastructure and health care, she said.

But, she said, "It's taken the gambling issue to make people listen, because money brings influence."

Tribes in past years have given an increasing amount of campaign donations to candidates across the country, as well as in New Mexico.

And it's Indian gambling that draws most of the attention, especially at the Roundhouse.

Tribes since 1998 have contributed at least $1.4 million to state politicians - a number that started as $8,450 in 1992 and peaked at almost $400,000 in 2002, according to records from the National Institute on Money in State Politics (www.followthemoney.org). Records also show Richardson has been a frequent recipient of tribal money.

New Mexico lawmakers this legislative session are considering changes to the state's 2001 gambling compacts. Negotiators for Richardson's office and the gambling tribes have worked for three years on the proposal now before the Legislature's Committee on Compacts.

Sen. John Pinto, a Democrat from Tohatchi, said Indians have boosted their influence by registering to vote in greater numbers during the past decade.

But, he said, work remains to draw the country's attention to issues in Indian Country.

"They need all kinds of infrastructure, new senior citizen centers, power line extensions, water line extensions, Head Start programs, road building," said Pinto, who has served in the state Senate since 1977.

"I'm hoping that, someday, we elect a Native American to Congress. That's going to happen probably within 20 years."