8:10 p.m.Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to sing the praises of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., at the Napa Valley Opera House Cafe today.

The appearance by the former president marks the second time that the 2008 race for the White House has touched down in Napa County. In September, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made a brief appearance at Pacific Blues Cafe in Yountville.

Bill Clinton will give a speech touching on the economy and the troubled housing and lending markets, according to campaign officials. An e-mail announcement circulated among Democratic activists in the valley characterized the event as a “Delivering Real Change” rally.

The Opera House Cafe doors will open between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. Clinton will start the town hall meeting at 3 p.m. and take questions from the crowd. There is no charge to attend the event.

Sen. Clinton has made at least two fundraising visits to Napa Valley in recent years, though she hasn’t made any public appearances here.

Whether she will visit the valley Wednesday is unclear. Democratic activists in the Napa Valley have suggested she will join her husband at a $2,300-a-plate fundraiser at the Upvalley home of vintners Kathryn and Craig Hall Wednesday afternoon, before Bill Clinton’s public appearance. In 1997, when Bill Clinton was president, he appointed Kathryn Hall to be U.S. Ambassador to Austria.

But an e-mail invite to the lunch mentions only President Clinton, and a spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton campaign said Sen. Clinton is not expected to visit the valley.

Bill Clinton is scheduled to make an appearance in Eureka later Wednesday.

Dignitaries in wine country

Napa Valley is becoming an increasingly popular stop for national political figures. In April 2006, President George W. Bush visited the valley, spending the night in the Meadowood Resort near St. Helena and going on a mountain bike ride in Angwin the next day. The president did not have any close encounters with the estimated two thousand demonstrators who lined Silverado Trail outside Meadowood before he left the valley via the Angwin airport.

Vice President Dick Cheney stopped Upvalley in March 2005 in what was characterized as a visit with friends, going to the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena for a meal.

Sen. Barack Obama, like Hillary Clinton a Democratic candidate for the White House, scheduled a fundraiser at an Oakville winery last year. The original event was canceled. It is not clear whether Obama has or will visit the valley.

The rumors of Bill Clinton’s visit began early this week. At various times, it was expected that he would hold a conference honoring Latino leaders at the Hall Winery in St. Helena, would appear at the Napa Valley Democratic Party headquarters near the corner of Coombs and First streets in Napa, or would appear at the Napa Valley Expo grounds.

Staffers for Hillary Clinton’s campaign confirmed the details of the appearance late Tuesday afternoon, and advance campaign workers were at the Opera House scouting the building Tuesday evening.

The Opera House is at 1030 Main St. in Napa.