Obama agrees to three fall debates. No Town Halls.
Jonathan Martin’s Blog

Barack Obama’s campaign released a letter this afternoon from campaign manager David Plouffe to the Commission on Presidential Debates only agreeing to the traditional three sanctioned fall debates and single vice presidential forum.

“Due to the late date of the two parties’ nominating conventions, and the relatively short period between the end of the conventions and the first proposed debate, it is likely that the four commission debates will be the sole series of debates in the fall campaign,” Plouffe writes.

To paraphrase Barack, “Is that the best you can do?”

What happened to his great oratory skills, oh, no teleprompter in town hall meetings.

McCain’s campaign, keeping with their new line of attack against Obama, expressed disappointment and offered a dose of sarcasm in response to the news.

“We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama’s magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he’ll reconsider,” said Brian Roges, a McCain spokesman.

Ed Morrissey writes;

This news will surprise no one that has followed the number of gaffes Obama makes when speaking off the cuff. When the press finally got embarrassed by their fawning attitude and asked him tough questions in the Pennsylvania debate, Obama folded like a cheap suit against Hillary — and immediately stopped appearing in debates. He has provided an almost endless series of gaffes when speaking extemporaneously, and obviously wants no part of McCain in this format.

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