ScreamingEagle
Gold Member
- Jul 5, 2004
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McCain suggests he and Obama hold 10 town hall meetings in the weeks leading up to the Democratic convention. The Obama campaign calls the idea 'appealing.'
June 5, 2008
BATON ROUGE, LA. -- A presidential campaign that has made historic strides in the areas of race, gender and fundraising could be poised to rewrite the book on debates.
With the bruising Democratic contest over, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain said Wednesday that he had proposed a series of town hall meetings with Barack Obama to be held across the country.
The first would be at New York's Federal Hall a week from today.
...
In his letter to the Obama campaign, McCain suggested 10 town hall meetings, one per week, to be held before the Democratic National Convention at the end of August.
They would be 60 to 90 minutes apiece and have blind questions, an independent moderator and a live audience of 200 to 400 voters selected by a polling organization such as Gallup.
The timetable would make the debates the first between major-party candidates to occur before Labor Day weekend -- the traditional start of the fall campaign season.
They also would be the first between candidates who have yet to formally receive their parties' nominations.
Earlier, more frequent debates could help carry the high voter interest levels seen during the primary season into the summer, while providing a chance to hear the candidates delve deeply into specific issues, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
"The current structure [of campaigning] rewards candidates for being able to synthesize and digest. It doesn't reward candidates for speaking about complex issues in a nuanced fashion," Jamieson said.
The sessions could prove to be revolutionary innovations in campaigning, she said.
cont.
McCain proposes a series of debates with Obama - Los Angeles Times
June 5, 2008
BATON ROUGE, LA. -- A presidential campaign that has made historic strides in the areas of race, gender and fundraising could be poised to rewrite the book on debates.
With the bruising Democratic contest over, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain said Wednesday that he had proposed a series of town hall meetings with Barack Obama to be held across the country.
The first would be at New York's Federal Hall a week from today.
...
In his letter to the Obama campaign, McCain suggested 10 town hall meetings, one per week, to be held before the Democratic National Convention at the end of August.
They would be 60 to 90 minutes apiece and have blind questions, an independent moderator and a live audience of 200 to 400 voters selected by a polling organization such as Gallup.
The timetable would make the debates the first between major-party candidates to occur before Labor Day weekend -- the traditional start of the fall campaign season.
They also would be the first between candidates who have yet to formally receive their parties' nominations.
Earlier, more frequent debates could help carry the high voter interest levels seen during the primary season into the summer, while providing a chance to hear the candidates delve deeply into specific issues, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
"The current structure [of campaigning] rewards candidates for being able to synthesize and digest. It doesn't reward candidates for speaking about complex issues in a nuanced fashion," Jamieson said.
The sessions could prove to be revolutionary innovations in campaigning, she said.
cont.
McCain proposes a series of debates with Obama - Los Angeles Times
