Geithner testimony to conflict with town hall?

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will lay out the administration’s sweeping regulatory overhaul plan in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee today. Interestingly, however, Geithner is scheduled to testify at 10:00AM EST, just 90 minutes before President Obama is schedule to hold his “virtual town hall” in the East Room of the White House.

It’s almost certain that Geithner’s Q&A will run well into–or past–the White House event. (A Financial Services staffer said there’s no scheduled time limit but expected questions to run until “1:00 or 2:00pm.”)

Obama’s town hall won’t be televised will apparently be televised, and it’s hard not to think it will detract a significant amount of attention from Geithner’s testimony. One has to wonder if the White House scheduled the event when it did purposefully–Obama is certainly a more skilled messenger than Geithner…