McCain Accepts Invitation for Townhalls at Presidential Libraries


By Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence, USA Today
June 16, 2008

Article Excerpts:

Republican John McCain's campaign says he has accepted an invitation from the Reagan and Johnson presidential libraries to have a joint townhall meeting at each library next month with his Democratic counterpart, Barack Obama.

Nancy Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson issued the invitation yesterday to the two presumptive nominees, saying the meetings would be nonpartisan with diverse audiences selected by a respected national polling organization. The Johnson library is in Austin; the Reagan library is in Simi Valley, Calif.

"We hope that Barack Obama will join us for these important events at these historic venues," McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker said in a statement.

There was no immediate word from Obama campaign on the invitation from the libraries.

McCain is trying to prod Obama, who is leading in national polls, to get onstage with him for a series of joint townhall meetings before the party conventions. The Obama campaign has countered his proposal for 10 sessions with a proposal for one joint townhall and an extra debate on foreign policy.

Today McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said in a letter to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe:

Thank you for responding to our proposal. Just to reiterate, we have proposed at least ten joint townhall meetings once a week until the week before the Democratic Convention begins. As we understand your counter-proposal, you have proposed only one townhall meeting before the Democratic Convention.

In keeping with our original proposal, we are planning a joint townhall meeting in Minnesota next Thursday evening (June 19, 2008). We will hold time on our schedule for joint townhalls every Thursday night until the Democratic convention. I hope Senator Obama would reconsider his position and agree to join Senator McCain as early as next week. . . .

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