That was Bubba's special skill. Bobo will ramble on through many different subject areas until the audience is asleep. The danger to the pubs is not Bobo. The dangers to the pubs are Democrat plants in the audience and Democrat moderators.
Do you remember the phony townhall debate between Hillary and Obama in Las Vegas? Neither Hillary nor Obama were willing to do a debate without approving the questions. So, they each brought out their personal union supporters, who read questions that were typed up and handed out before the debate.
Obama gave away the plan by greeting the head of the SEIU Kitchen workers by name.
I think both of those are givens, but see my earlier point about Mittens being sort of a darkhorse in this format.
BTW, Obama was able to out-Bubba Mrs. Clinton in the townhall format, but he couldn't keep up with John Edwards.
On the other hand, Casey Anthony could probably beat Hillary Clinton in a townhall debate.