The first debate planned by the commission is set for Sept. 26 in
Oxford, Miss., three weeks after the Republican National Convention
concludes Sept. 4. The Democratic convention is scheduled for Aug.
25-28.
The other presidential debates are set for Oct. 7 and Oct. 15 and the
vice presidential debate for Oct. 2.
A day after Obama clinched the Democratic nomination in early
June, McCain challenged Obama to a series of 10 town hall meetings.
The candidates' campaigns began negotiations, telling reporters that
they agreed in spirit to joint appearances.
I'm not expecting much in terms of performance from either John McCain or Barack
Obama in the upcoming debates. They both gave lackluster performances in their
respective debates during the primaries. I thought that Hillary Clinton beat Barack
Obama in the final debates (shows how much debates matter, huh?). Mitt Romney,
Rudy Giuliani and even Mike Huckabee were much better in the Republican debates
than John McCain. I noticed Sen. Obama would stutter a lot and would have trouble
being concise. Sen. McCain would repeat himself often.