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McCain renews town-hall debate challenge to Obama

BY ERIK GERMAN | erik.german@newsday.com

June 13, 2008

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain renewed his challenge for Democratic candidate Barack Obama to join him in a series of town-hall-style debates yesterday, then headed to Manhattan for the first of the events that Obama had declined to attend.

"This would have been a little more interesting tonight if Senator Obama had accepted my request," said McCain, encircled by 200 applauding people inside Wall Street's Federal Hall. "It's the opportunity for you to talk to me, as well as for me to talk to you."

McCain first extended the invitation to Obama last week - just one day after the Illinois senator became the Democratic party's presumptive nominee. McCain recommended a series of 10 events, with the kickoff scheduled for last night inside Wall Street's Federal Hall.

The Obama campaign hasn't rejected participating in town halls outright but has been tepid about McCain's request for 10 in a row. "We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. "But, having just secured our party's nomination, this is one of the many items we will be addressing in the coming days and look forward to discussing it with the McCain campaign."

At the Wall Street venue where one of these joint meetings was to be held, McCain had reportedly planned to note Obama's absence with an empty chair, but the prop was scrapped with the event being produced by Fox News. The Obama campaign said the network has invited Obama to participate in a town-hall event of his own at a later date.

More intimate than the rallies that campaigns often hold inside gymnasiums or arenas, town-hall-style meetings allow candidates to speak at length and respond to questions proffered by voters rather than media personalities. McCain considers the format to be one of this strong suits and the Arizona senator held more than 100 of them in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary.

The lower Manhattan event was one of such four town hall meetings McCain scheduled this week, including one Wednesday in Pennsylvania, the two yesterday and one still to come today in Pemberton, N.J. Pressuring Obama to join him for such events was a message McCain hewed to throughout the day. "I want Senator Obama to accept my invitation," McCain said to a crowd of voters at a town-hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., earlier in the day. "I will fly around this country with him. I'll reserve one day a week and let's have town-hall meetings. Let's hear from the American people."

And McCain may not be the only one pressing Obama on the point. Former first lady Nancy Reagan and Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, yesterday invited McCain and Obama for two joint town hall meetings at the presidential libraries in Austin, Texas, and Simi Valley, Calif.