Newsweek has the story hot-off the campaign trail in Indiana:
Clinton took the debate dispute to a new level, challenging Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style."Just the two of us, going for 90 minutes, asking and answering questions, we'll set whatever rules seem fair," Clinton said while campaigning in South Bend.
Clinton says her opponent will not face her in a debate because he felt that moderators treated him unfairly.
Barack Obama tried to frame his rationale differently:
"I was convinced that the American people were tired of the politics that's all about tearing each other down. The American people were tired of spin and PR, they wanted straight talk and honesty from their elected officials," Obama said at a town hall meeting in the aging industrial city of Anderson."If you watched the last few weeks of this campaign, you'd think that all politics is about is negative ads and bickering and arguing, gaffes and sideline issues," said Obama. "There's no serious discussion about how to bring jobs back, to Anderson."
It is noteworthy that Barack Obama offerred no such serious discussion himself today. Instead, he focused largely on the broad-stroke, positive themes that animated his campaign originally, intermixed with complaints about "Washington".
Speaking about the state of the race, he said:
Everybody is kind of nervous about this Democratic primary, it's been going on a long time.
He later added:
We will be united in November and beat John McCain and the Republicans.
For my part, I think this is a bold move for Hillary. While she possesses a near-encyclopedic mastery of the issues, she does not have Obama's oratory gifts. And given the reaction of Obama-pundits to their own kin at ABC, imagine how they will react if Sen. Clinton draws a sharp contrast or asks a pointed question. As I see it, this is a no-brainer for Barack. He gets to dodge the claim that he is too timid or aloof to debate, but can participate in a contest that is almost certain to favor him.
More importantly: this is cool. Who among you isn't at least curious to see how this would go? A debate without moderators, cast in a historic light, during a historic contest, would be something fresh. And it might well be remembered decades later, if either of these candidates wins the White House this year.
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