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Obama, McCain bicker over town hall faceoffs
Barack Obama and John McCain, rivals for the White House, argued on Friday over terms for a series of face-to-face town hall meetings and each side blamed the other for an inability to reach an agreement.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:50 June 14, 2008
Columbus: Barack Obama and John McCain, rivals for the White House, argued on Friday over terms for a series of face-to-face town hall meetings and each side blamed the other for an inability to reach an agreement.
Democrat Obama and Republican McCain, opponents in the November election, also quarrelled over ways to salvage Social Security, the US government retirement system for seniors that is at risk of going broke in the decades ahead.
The presidential libraries of Democrat Lyndon Johnson and Republican Ronald Reagan offered to host the two candidates at separate town hall meetings.
McCain, 71, quickly accepted and accused Obama, 46, of rejecting his offer from two weeks ago to hold 10 face-to-face encounters, one a week, throughout the summer.
He called on Obama to reconsider and join him in a town hall meeting as early as next week. "His people have responded with a ... very disappointing response," McCain told reporters in Pemberton, New Jersey.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said his candidate had offered to meet McCain five times before Election Day - in the three presidential campaign debates that normally take place plus a joint town hall on the economy in July and an in-depth debate on foreign policy in August.
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