Obama, McCain say no to Bloomberg, ABC town hall meeting

NeW YORK - Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama rejected an offer by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News to host the first general election town hall meeting because they do not want it limited to one network, their campaigns said Sunday.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had asked his Democratic counterpart last week to join him in 10 meetings with voters in the coming months, and campaign managers for both sides had agreed in spirit to schedule some type of joint appearances.

But the campaigns said no to a formal offer outlined in a letter from Bloomberg and ABC on Sunday envisioning a 90-minute primetime broadcast moderated by Diane Sawyer to kick off the town hall series in New York City. The campaigns said the candidates intend to make the town hall meetings open for broadcast on all television networks or on the internet, rather than sponsored by a single network or news organization.

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http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1099476

A mayoral debate for a small town after the Pennsylvania debacle/RW smear job let alone a critical general election presidential election debate.

NEVER get another debate if it were up to me. They had their chance and they blew it.

nt

abc. And, yeah, that's how I really feel.

... from any debate role in this election.

That would be a step in the right direction.