Both presidential candidates are working to convince Americans their own strategies on Iraq and the struggling economy will lead the country in the right direction.

But one non-profit group in New Orleans is doing it's best to keep disaster recovery and hurricane preparedness issues in the spotlight as the race for the White House heats up.

"You've got to plan, and if you don't plan you're going to see that it's the loss of human life, and of course it really impacts the economy when you have these crises and you haven't planned for them," Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm

That's why Milling hopes her efforts this week strike a chord.

Milling, along with two other members of her organization testified before the Democratic National Committee in Cleveland, Ohio Friday. The committee invited the group to help sharpen its campaign strategy.

"It is to formulate the platform that the Democrats will use to go forward after the convention in Denver, and what they do is they get input on various issues from people across America," said Milling

It could be an opportunity for Democrats and for the New Orleans area.

But Milling says it's more about looking forward to the federal government's role in future disasters.

"We know that changes have to be made, and the only way that's going to happen is through advocacy and pointing out all the errors and problems that we've had," Milling said.

"Infrastructure and the need for planning and helping our country, whether it be levees or highways or whatever, we have got to focus on this, so when you have the leadership talking about it, this may bubble to the top," Milling said.

How much play the issues get during this election season remains to be seen, but Women of the Storm say there is a wild card.

The group's big push now is to help secure a presidential debate here at the Convention Center. Milling says everything is in place to make it happen; now, they're just waiting on both candidates to accept the invitation.

"I think within the next week we should hear from the campaigns because time is going by, and, of course, you've got to realize that we've got the conventions coming up; They're going to announce their vice presidential candidates. They've got to make a decision about where they've got to go in terms of extra debates."