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The Ten Debates That Weren'tby Josh Gerstein
Back in June, Senator McCain of Arizona proposed ten debates with Senator Obama of Illinois. Mr. Obama's camp declined, but I bet if that offer were on the table today, the Democratic nominee would jump at it. Even if some time at those discussions was devoted to "lipstick" and other silliness, most talk would have been about the issues, where Democrats are confident they have an edge. Mr. Obama and his team clearly saw the ten-debate offer as an attempt to pin them down and to encumber their travel schedule, but it also would have guaranteed an unusual degree of substantiveness to the campaign. However, with benefit of hindsight, it is evident now that more regular debates between the presidential candidates would also have had the efefct of diminishing the importance of the vice presidential hopefuls, including one who has been drawing a lot of attention. Maybe the three semi-official debates that were agreed to will be enough to re-inject some seriousness into the fall campaign, but it could turn out that declining the debate-a-week proposal was a strategic mistake for the Obama team. Related Topics: General Election |
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