ORLANDO, Fla. - Democrat Barack Obama agreed on Saturday to a formal proposal for three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, effectively scuttling Republican White House rival John McCain’s hopes for a series of one-on-one town hall meetings.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe informed the Commission on Presidential Debates of the decision, which proposed the schedule, in a letter. Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel will represent the campaign in talks on the format and details.
The late conventions and short period before the first debate — the Republican convention ends on Sept. 4 and the first debate is scheduled for Sept. 26 — made it “likely” the four debates proposed by the commission “will be the sole series of debates in the fall campaign,” Plouffe wrote.
McCain had suggested the two candidates could appear together at a series of town-hall meetings, but negotiations between the two sides never produced an agreement.
The McCain campaign used the decision to take another poke at Obama’s “celebrity” image.
“We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama’s magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he’ll reconsider,” spokesman Brian Rogers said.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage
Photo credit: Reuters/Scott Audette (Obama laughs alongside Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League in Orlando, Florida, on Aug. 2, 2008)
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Hey Whitesides,
- Posted by GAJThanks for the unbiased reporting.
“That margin reversed Obama’s 4-point edge last month on the economy over McCain, an Arizona senator and former Vietnam prisoner of war who has admitted a lack of economic expertise and shows far greater interest in foreign and military policy.”
Nice try on trying to sway the “undecided”s
Amazing the amount of hatred thrown around, and you wonder why the candidates only know how to bash one another. It is a lot easier to try to bring someone else down than it is to point out the positive strides you could possibly make. I do not think we will see progress in this election because people seem to be voting only by how much they dislike the other candidate. As for the comments, not all Republicans are a certain way and Democrats another. Bashing a party is similar to the way certain other countries hate Americans, because they view them as all one way. While I do believe we have some prejudice, I do not think most of the people voting against Obama do so because he is black. Such a claim only shows your own racism/prejudices. He obviously overcame that hurdle by becoming the Democratic nominee. As for Obama resolving our dependence on foreign oil, he’s not. If you listened to him he said in 10 years we could be. In 10 years he will no longer be eligible to be president as the maximum 2 terms/8 years is past. He will pass that issue to the next political candidate to resolve. I would love to have our own sources, though, because I think as we give money to the East for oil they are laughing at us because we basically are funding their next terrorist attack against us. I think both candidates have good and poor qualities and intentions I like. Problem is not seeing people make good on their campaign promises once elected as well as their being blocked by Congress or even foreign diplomacy. No one person can solve all the world’s problems or even all of them in our own country. I am sure when things don’t happen as people want or as quickly as they want, they will claim if the other person was elected it would be different. My decision will likely be made by whom I think can keep taxes and costs down.
- Posted by GHSMike…I imagine it was easier to attack his use of “bigger than expected” words than to actually respond to the post…once again, in words you may understand, I challenge those who follow Obama to provide one example of an Obama talking point that is coherent and plausible, and not just an empty shell to drum up support from his mindless followers. Remember when McCain and Hillary came up with the ridiculous idea to have a gas tax holiday. Yes, an absolutely idiotic idea that would drain our highway system budget and force allocation of funds away from other programs to be used on highways and bridges that would have been funded by the gas tax.
- Posted by karlthomasSo the $1000 Obama plans to give out that is funded by “Big Oil” isn’t just a political ploy? Good god, even you stupid liberals have got to see that big oil exists as a private industry and thus, if the government taxes them, they will find a way to continue to make their 8.3% they have been making since 1950. while their profit amount was high, the amount they spent was proportional to that of the last 50 years. $1000 dollars in your pocket now results in an equal jump in the price at the pump….if you can do the job for less than they charge and turn a bigger profit, then go right ahead…until then, we rely on them and subsequent innovation. Vote smart, not change. Don’t vote for McCain, vote against Obama.