McCain Forum Idea Deserves A Chance


, nashuatelegraph.com
June 19, 2008

For the moment, let's try to forget the political strategy that may or may not have been behind Republican John McCain's call for Democrat Barack Obama to join him in a series of 10 weekly town-hall-style meetings across the nation between mid-June and the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 25-28.

Let's forget that McCain has elevated the town hall forum into an art form since his first bid for president in 2000.

Let's forget that by setting the bar so high- one a week for 10 weeks commencing with one only eight days after the original invitation- anything less than full agreement by the Obama camp would look like he was trying to duck him.

Let's forget that McCain could benefit from the "free" media coverage that would come with 10 town-hall forums.

Given all that, wouldn't it be nice if it were possible to actually stage a series of "debates" in which McCain and Obama could field questions directly from voters with as few restrictions as possible?

Yes, it would. But unless something changes in the next few weeks, the likelihood of that happening looks pretty remote.

On Friday, the Obama campaign suggested two such events- one around the Fourth of July and another specifically on foreign policy in August-  to supplement the three more traditional debates to be sponsored this fall by the bipartisan Commission on President Debates.

Of course, that counteroffer was quickly interpreted as a rejection by the McCain camp.

All of which is too bad, because there is something to be said for placing two presidential candidates in a room with a designated number of voters, who are then given a pretty free rein to ask the candidates whatever they want.

We have always been partial to this approach, which is one of the main reasons why The Telegraph joined with The Associated Press of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Television to form a media consortium known as Voters' Voice during the 1996 presidential campaign.

The goal of the organization was to refocus some of the traditional campaign coverage away from the needs of the candidates to the needs of the voters.

Perhaps the most visible way we did this was through a series of forums that brought together about a dozen voters-  Democrats, Republicans and independents- in a room with one of the presidential candidates for 90 minutes of unfiltered talk about the issues of the day.

The sessions were moderated by a professional facilitator- not by one of the media partners- and the voters were free to ask whatever they wanted during that time period.

Now, to be fair, the logistics in putting together the Voters' Voice forums were a lot simpler than what we're talking about here.

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