Obama says no debates with Clinton between now and Indiana

google.com ^ | April 27, 2008

[COUNTrecount]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Sunday brushed aside a challenge from Hillary Rodham Clinton to debate before the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

On Saturday, Clinton said she wants Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style.

"I'm not ducking. We've had 21" debates, Obama said on "Fox News Sunday."

"For two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure we're talking to as many voters on the ground, taking questions from voters," he said. "We're not going to have debates between now and Indiana."

The more open style of debating where each side presents an argument gets its name from the famed debates that took place during the 1858 U.S. Senate race in Illinois between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas.

Trailing in delegates and the popular vote, Clinton has been stepping up the pressure on Obama for more debates in advance of primaries on May 6 in Indiana and North Carolina.

[CTSeditor]

"I'm not ducking. We've had 21 debates" -- Obama

Good point. This deal has been Hillary's to lose from the start. And she's done a bang up job doing just that. Less than stellar when in New York. Don't blam Obama one darn bit.

[Defiant]

LOL. Very good.

[Dante3]

On this point I agree with Obama. Hillary & Bill are in a frenzy. She is too far behind and apparently hopes to damage Obama in order to have a shot at 2012. She might follow McCain’s playbook and spring false accusations on Obama.

[FreeManWhoCan]

I have been enjoying Operation Chaos as well. This year showed me how truly powerful Rush is. With a word he can make or break a Presidential candidate or President if he wished. He will be listed in history books.

[Aria]

I think you’re right - if the tables were turned she’d be refusing to debate him and calling him desperate..... or something.

[Teacher317]

Obama is running scared now, as his rhetoric is running on empty.

And thanks to Rush, we find this out now, and strengthen Hillary, rather than finding it out in late October, and avoid any chance of the Evil Overlord taking the reins. Love ya Rush, but you screwed the pooch on that one.

[SampleMan]

Hillary should challenge Wright to a debate and see how that goes.

[IamConservative]

I have been enjoying Operation Chaos as well. This year showed me how truly powerful Rush is. With a word he can make or break a Presidential candidate or President if he wished. He will be listed in history books.

Rush, combined with all the rest of conservative talk radio couldn't put a dent in McCain..

[maro]

The RNC should pay for a weekly cable show for Wright and Obama’s wife. They could call it, “Good Morning, White Racist Amerikkka.”

[freekitty]

Aw comeon Obama. I want to hear more of your fairytales.

[Chode]

i don't think she wanted one either.

ten bucks says that was a calculated risk by the Beast... and it paid off.

[RightWhale]

The leader doesn’t want debates. Must not see any great benefit but some possibility of damage. Best just be the leader.

[counterpunch]

I totally disagree.
If Obama was not taken down a peg in the general election, then he would have retained his messianic aura which would have been defended bitterly by the MSM. Obama has not been taken down enough, yet. We still have work to do in Operation Chaos, namely in Indiana.

And likewise, had Obama not surged at just the right time when he did, then Hillary’s air of inevitability would have maintained, and she would have been a far more formidable foe in the general election, a place she is very unlikely to find herself now. She still is an extremely improbably longshot. The racial politics of the Democrat party pretty much guarantees Obama will be the nominee, no matter how much he crashes and burns from here on out. With that in mind, lets see just have far he can fall.

If Hillary does somehow manage to reclaim what was inevitably and rightfully her birthright, she will have been so knocked off course, so bloodied up, and mostly at her own hand, that she will be every bit as weakened politically as Obama. At which point the super delegates, knowing this, figure they might as well give it to the black guy since their screwed either way. Besides, do all those party officials who had the long knives out for the Clintons really want to give them the chance of regaining power, where they can dish severe, swift retribution to the disloyal?

So sit back and enjoy the show. It may run a bit long, but it will never be dull.

[BillyBoy]

1. April 26, 2007 – Orangeburg, South Carolina
2. June 3, 2007 - CNN 7:00pm EDT - Manchester, New Hampshire
3. June 28, 2007 - PBS - Washington, D.C.
4. July 12, 2007 – Detroit, Michigan
5. July 23, 2007 - CNN - Charleston, South Carolina
6. August 4, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
7. August 7, 2007 – Chicago, Illinois
8. August 9, 2007 – Los Angeles, California
9. August 19, 2007 – Des Moines, Iowa
10. September 9, 2007 – Coral Gables, Florida
11. September 12, 2007 — Huffington Post/Yahoo! Debate w/ Charlie Rose
12. September 20, 2007 – Davenport, Iowa
13. September 26, 2007 – Hanover, New Hampshire
14. October 30, 2007 - NBC 9:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
15. November 15, 2007 - CNN - Las Vegas, Nevada
16. December 4, 2007 - NPR (radio only) - Des Moines, Iowa
17. December 13, 2007 – Johnston, Iowa
18. January 5, 2008 - ABC 8:45pm EST - Manchester, New Hampshire
19. January 15, 2008 - MSNBC 6:00pm PST - Las Vegas, Nevada
20. January 21, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EST - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
21. January 31, 2008 - CNN 5:00pm PDT - Hollywood, California
22. February 2, 2008 - MTV 6:00pm EST - MTV Myspace Debate
23. February 21, 2008 - CNN 7:00pm CST - Austin, Texas
24. February 26, 2008 - MSNBC 9:00pm EST - Cleveland, Ohio
25. April 13, 2008 - CNN 8:00pm EDT - Grantham, Pennsylvania
26. April 16, 2008 - ABC 8:00pm EDT - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

---

26 debates by my count. One wonders why “gifted masterful orator” Barack Obama fears a 27th.

[counterpunch]

Rush, combined with all the rest of conservative talk radio couldn't put a dent in McCain..

That's for a few reasons.
The main one was a total lack of a game plan on Rush's part.
He was hands off.
He offered no leadership, and he came very late to the game.
He didn't give his listeners a candidate to rally to.
Some thought he was secretly supporting Thompson. Other's thought Romney. Many thought Rudy was his man. He offered listeners no direction. thus the Rush vote was split, and by the time Fred and Rudy dropped out leaving only Romney as the logical choice, it was too late.

And finally there is the fact that Rush is more ideological, while most Republican voters, as it turns out, are more pragmatic.
Republicans went to the polls wanting to win in November, and they chose the one candidate who just might be able to deliver on that. Staring at either Hillary or Obama on the horizon, Republicans knew they had to do something to prevent that, and hence, why we have McCain now, despite Rush's opinion.
 

[upsdriver]

Obama is running scared now, as his rhetoric is running on empty. And he may not be running at all pretty soon.

The momentum has swung to Hillary Clinton. She will be the nominee.

[upsdriver]

It's only the last one that got people's attention because it was about character and judgment,

And Hillary won a debate about character and judgement!lol Imagine that! This country is sooooo screwed.

[counterpunch]

Wrong.
As I said before, because of the racial politics of the Democrat party, the nomination is virtually guaranteed to Obama, no matter how much he crashes and burns.

And the Democrats are beginning to realize they are damned if they do, damned if they don’t when it comes to their nominee, so they might as well give it to the black guy to lose instead of the Clinton to lose, because the long term fallout of denying Obama would be devastating. Since they’re both sure losers, there is no upside to awarding it to Hillary. And as I said, in the rare possibility that Hillary may actually win in November if she were the nominee, why would all of those party leaders who stabbed her in the back want to risk her and Bill’s wrath and vengeance when they are back in power?

[LiberConservative]

cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck

OsamaObama is a chump. Why wouldn't he be a chicken as well?

[hsalaw]

And Hillary won a debate about character and judgement!lol

She didn't win. He lost.