McCain invites Obama to joint town hall meetings

Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) invited his new Democratic opponent, presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), to “at least” 10 joint town hall debates.

McCain also suggested that the two candidates fly together to the first debate “as a symbolically important act embracing the politics of civility.”

{mosads}In a letter to Obama, who secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday night, McCain cited the precedent that would have been set by President John F. Kennedy and his Republican rival Barry Goldwater when they agreed to a similar arrangement in 1963 before Kennedy’s assassination.

“Unfortunately, with President Kennedy’s untimely death, Americans lost the rare opportunity of witnessing candidates for the highest office in the land discuss civilly and extensively the great issues at stake in the election,” McCain wrote.

The Arizona senator noted that the town hall meetings should "be as free from the regimented trappings, rules and spectacle of formal debates as possible, and that we pledge to the American people we will not allow the idea to die on the negotiation table as our campaigns work out the details.

“What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty sound bites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections,” McCain said.

The Arizona senator suggested the first such town hall meeting should take place June 11 or 12 at Federal Hall in New York City, the site of President George Washington’s oath of office and other federal occurrences of historical significance.

McCain wrote he would then like to have one meeting a week until the week before the Democratic convention.

The presumptive Republican nominee suggested an audience of 200 to 400 people selected by an independent polling agency, with audience members free to ask questions of the two candidates and other details to be arranged by the two campaigns.

“What is important is that we commit to participate in these history-making meetings to join in the higher level of discourse that Americans clearly would prefer,” McCain wrote.

Obama, the newly crowned Democratic standard-bearer, responded positively to McCain’s request, calling the idea “one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change direction of this country.”

David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, said in an email to reporters that Obama would prefer to see a format “less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.” 

“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,” Plouffe said.