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Town Hall Gives Mac Preferred Platform

Campaign sees tomorrow's encounter as chance to reroute opinion

By Gabriel Winant,  Newser User

Posted Oct 6, 2008 10:10 AM CDT

(Newser) – Tomorrow’s debate will be the one town-hall-style encounter John McCain gets with Barack Obama, and analysts believe it will be crucial to keeping the presidential race from slipping away, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Republican has a reputation for excelling in the town-hall format, which brings out his spontaneity and wit.

The Obama campaign has responded by ratcheting up expectations for the Republican, the Washington Post adds. “We are expecting to see John McCain at the top of his game,” said an Obama spokeswoman. While McCain, lagging in the polls, may need to attack Obama, doing so in the face of audience members could appear crass—and a gamble.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at a town hall-style campaign stop in Pueblo, Colo., on Friday; tomorrow's Nashville debate will follow a similar format.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at a town hall-style campaign stop in Pueblo, Colo., on Friday; tomorrow's Nashville debate will follow a similar format.   (AP Photo)
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks during a town-hall meeting in Norfolk, Va., Sept. 10, 2008.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks during a town-hall meeting in Norfolk, Va., Sept. 10, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Chris Arsenauld, left, and Jacob Driver put up bunting on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, for the presidential debate to be held there Tuesday, Oct. 7. Universities that vied to host the debates had to be willing to pay $1.35 million to...
Chris Arsenauld, left, and Jacob Driver put up bunting on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008, for the presidential debate to be held there Tuesday, Oct. 7. Universities...   (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
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The key for McCain, if he is to close the race, is to argue that the change Obama wants is change Americans don't want. - Sara Taylor, former political director for President Bush

I think they've announced they want people to forget about the economy and talk about Barack Obama. I think that's very dangerous and very hard in a debate where you are taking questions from real people. - Robert Gibbs, Obama spokesman

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