Don't do it obama. It's a stunt to get free media. She's starving for cash. Scheduling conflict. Easy excuse.

Manup Obama manup.

Or else all she can afford now is free press.

I am pretty sure you meant, "appear with HER", not him. In the title and in the body.

I'd invite her to a game of HORSE.

I'm really glad that Hillary likes to spend time with Obama. It's kinda funny, voters like to spend time with him too. In fact, the more time that the voters spend with him the better he does (the reverse seems to be the case with Hillary). I now understand her strategy:
1. Get free media, airtime.
2. Keep Obama from actually spending time with voters.

In fact she released her invitation for the weekly debates to the press before she sent it to Obama. Just in case you were wondering what her motivation was.

Why is this starting to smell desperate?

I don't really think it is bad news for the Dems that McCain is already the nominee and BHO and HRC are left fighting it out for a couple of months...

If BHO and HRC spend time bashing McCain, then McCain will be getting hit from two different angles rather than one...Plus an intense campaign in Ohio will help in the general...

I wouldn't mind debates if they are McCain slam-fests...Obama should agree to a debate before Wisconsin and one before Ohio, and insist that FOX not be involved...

He's going to have to look in the rear view mirror to see her waving at him.

Why would he? It would make absolutely no political sense. Its a ploy to get some free face time on TV. Obama's now showing he's tough enough to punch it out with Clinton and the GOP. Go on him. He's in control of the game right now.

Hillary invites Obama to appear with him? Is this Hillary of Poitiers? Sir Edmund Hillary?

This is looking pretty desperate.

This appears to be a very effective strategy that Hillary is undertaking. The more she presses for debates and joint appearances and the more Obama refuses, the more she looks like an underdog and the more he looks, like less of a leader, and a bit arrogant, sort of like going into a four-quarter defense with more than a few minutes left in the second half of the game.

The more he says no....the more he drops. It is a lose/lose situation. She beats him in debates...he has the Iraq question as an advantage or does he, that is the question. Is that the sucker question?
That's the answer the press wondered why she let go and never really fought back....I wonder why? She beats him on the economics, the health care issues, all he has is the vote on Iraq. SO why not debate????

Actually, Obama should accept Hillary's Maine invite with the stipulation that the ENTIRE DEBATE BE DEVOTED TO IRAQ...Then, while he accepts Hillary's offer, he shows he's not being pushed around...The ball is then back in Hillary court...

He should accept only if Mike Gravel is allowed to participate.

"The move comes as the Hillary campaign is pressing Obama to spend more time in face-to-face debates with her. Such moves reflect the Hillary campaign's belief that she does well in forums where she's allowed to debate the issues head-to-head with Obama, as opposed to letting him largely frame the race from the stump with his superior oratorical skills."

Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg,

This should read: Such moves reflect the Hillary campaign's belief that the more voters that meet Obama the more that vote for him. It a transparent effort to take up his time and keep him from meeting as many voters on the stump as possible. She wants a nice small event where she can control what's asked, the lighting (good for her, bad for him) and the snacks.

Good for her for trying. Now, fire Patti Solis Doyle and we'll know you're serious about winning; keep her and you'll be known as the most competitive female candidate who ever ran for a party nomination only.

The smart thing to do here is to "invite" her to a health care debate or a economic stimulus debate or a Middle East policy debate in Ohio or Texas. Starting in two weeks. Let his mo flow and get focused on these states -- the more people see him, the more they like him and the better he does.

Never let the your opponent call the shots on your campaign. Do not do it, Senator Obama. Tell Hillary to start taking charge of her own campaign's fiscal disarray, instead of trying to control your campaign.

I think it's time that Obama "invite" Hillary to "join" him refusing to take money from lobbyists.

Or Obama could "invite" Clinton to "join" him in agreeing that voting for the war in Iraq was a disaster.

I'm sure we could come up with a long list of invitations... could be fun.

Just don't take her bait. Get her to play on your field. You've got the upper-hand and the wind at your back. Don't get suckered.

What was it that her campaign was saying a few months back? Something to the effect that Obama voters just want a hip, black friend. Clinton's eagerness to spend time with him suggests that this is not only true of Obama voters.

Obama is only strong when he can make a speech with no substance and filled with inspiration.....but dosnt get to the issues//////////// and how hes going to change wahington...people im 67 years old and believe me NO ONE is going to change washington.....the only way is term limits for all those freeloaders in congress who have lifetime jobs sucking up to whatever gets them reelected....that includes dems and repub's....obam wont debate her because she is well studied and knows the issues inside and out ,....thats the truth of the situation

I'd invite her to stump with him at his next event.

Just to throw it out there---would it be a good strategy for Hillary to publicly announce that she would invite Obama as VP if elected? That might make the undecideds break even more decisively towards her...? And his lack of reciprocation would further push the storyline that he's arrogant.

Urg, this is kinda juvenile isn't it? I'm just picturing her trying to call him out to the flag poll after school, like she has something to prove. Give it up. The people of Maine have already seen 18 debates, if they haven't figured it out yet, they aren't going to, and you know it Hillary. A stunt is a stunt is a stunt. We all know you suck at making speeches compared to Obama, we all know you can't inspire people like he can, quit trying to make up for that.

3 debates for the 2004 general election

18+ debates for the 2008 primary election

Does anyone else find this a little ridiculous?

Obama is only strong when he can make a speech with no substance and filled with inspiration.....but dosnt get to the issues//////////// and how hes going to change wahington...people im 67 years old and believe me NO ONE is going to change washington.....the only way is term limits for all those freeloaders in congress who have lifetime jobs sucking up to whatever gets them reelected....that includes dems and repub's....obam wont debate her because she is well studied and knows the issues inside and out ,....thats the truth of the situation

A stunt? You don't say! I couldn't imagine Hillary Clinton pulling a stunt.

A third option would be for Obama to hold his own town hall meeting.

A fourth option would be for Obama to appear with her in the forum and be the good-humored, well-spoken guy who grasps the issues that he is!

Hillary is looking for ways to minimize the effect of her cash shortage. She does not want to have this evolve into a tv ad battle.

Bangor might be the geographic center of Maine, but Portland is the population center.

Maybe she doesn't want Mainers to notice his presence?

Angry Vet wrote:
>>>Aside from the money-raising figures on Obama's part, isn't it obvious that HRC is owning the post-Super Tuesday media narrative with her tactical ploys? Where is Obama on this? Not good, methinks. Though, it seems Intrade is having none of it. Thoughts, anyone?

Right now I think don't think it's the 'media narrative' that matters nearly so much as the on-the-ground contacts being made in in LA, NE, WA, ME, DC, MD, VA ... oh, and the Virgin Islands. With a look-ahead to OH, TX, and PA. If he wins big, he'll have NO problem recapturing the spotlight. If he loses badly, it doesn't matter what was said in the week(s) before. Lower-key, smaller (if possible) gatherings focusing on what those particular voters find important is the very best thing he can do right now. (Apparently that's what he did at Tulane this a.m.) --- In truth, I don't think Clinton is helping herself with this attention-getting behavior, in any event. But the important thing is that Obama concentrate on what matters ... and it's down to those states now. So I'm all for his ignoring the national media and the rest of us for a while and concentrating where it matters.

Re: the Maine invitation. I seriously doubt that he has a "free evening" on his schedule ... so maybe he should invite Hillary to 'stand up' her supporters and come appear with him?

Another_reader,

Given each candidate's supporter demographics... As with her contributors, methinks Hillary has maxed out on those who will drift over to her... If gforbid she is the democrats nominee...will never vote for her...This is a person who has no value system...anything goes. I am so happy that Obama has those 650,000 people who will continue to support his candidacy. He cannot let Hillary run his campaign. Hell, Bill doesn't listen to her why should Obama!!!!

Should he bring his thong?

One would think that with all of her campaign's frontrunner spin she would instead be saving her taunts for McCain.

Since she's so interested in the choice of "the people," Obama should respond that he'd be happy to debate her as much as she wants if she agrees with him that Super Delegates shouldn't count toward the nomination and it should be decided by the people.

Let's step back for a minute and look at the playing field:

a) HRC says no Fox News and then backtracks

b) HRC says no MI and FL delegate and then backtracks

c) HRC says no personal financing and then backtracks

d) HRC agrees to debate schedules and then wants to rewrite them

Is this the sort of responsible, consistent, stable leadership we want in the White House representing the Democratic Party?

He should send Michelle as his surrogate.

Love it Tithonia!!!

"Given each candidate's supporter demographics... As with her contributors, methinks Hillary has maxed out on those who will drift over to her... If gforbid she is the democrats nominee...will never vote for her..."

Her supporter demographics tend to be blue-collar whites and hispanics. There seem to be plenty of those to go around.

Though you may think otherwise, the proof that people will drift over to her was shown on Tuesday. She is now winning more late voters.

Considering the similarity of their two positions on issues, it would be rather strange to vote for McCain over Hillary. But, do what you will. If you're voting on personality, well God help us all...personality does not effectively legislate.

Watch out Senator Obama! It is a trap. Hillary still has some more nose hairs left. She will pull another one, and shed some more timely tears.

Obama is STILL running a 100 million dollar campaign not a lemonade stand.

When running a successful campaign of that size you have a calendar, strategic plans and meetings already in place.

Successfully running a campaign means you don't drop what you're doing simply to respond to a competitor's demands.

His primary focus is on meeting VOTERS in a way that suits them the best.

Maybe, he can setup a place on his website where voters can request a debate if they want it. Then if the demand is there from VOTERS and HRC agrees to the conditions then he could consider it.

But it would be silly to expect anyone running a successful enterprise of that size to let their competitors dictate their schedules or priorities.

I hope HRC is not running her campaign that way.

THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN IS SIMPLY LOOKING FOR FREE AIR TIME BECAUSE (a) Cash is low and (b) Hillary is losing the hearts and minds of Americans across the United States (c) she wants to distract OBAMA from the Campaign trail and (d)she is desperate. You have to ask yourself, if the roles were reversed, would Hillary Clinton do the same? The answer is NO. When Hillary was ahead, ACCESS TO HILLARY WAS QUITE LIMITED TO CAREFULLY SCRIPTED PHOTO OPS. Hillary is only accessible to the public when absolutely necessary. If Hillary cannot run a Presidential Campaign with $150 Million Dollars and manage the use of those funds properly, why should we entrust her with managing the American economy? There have been 18 Debates. OBAMA needs to spend more of his time on the campaign trail in as many communities as possible, not spending days preparing for one debate to give Hillary the Mainstream Media attention she now so desperately needs.

Tithonia wrote:

"He should send Michelle as his surrogate."

A debate between spouses would be fine with me. Our side would win that one easily. She would win if there was a trash talking segment of the debate but Bill would win everything else.

I would prefer a debate to another stump speech, like Tuesday night. Hillary's speech was ok; Obama's sounded vaguely familiar. A debate will be much more informative.

This is the biggest fairytale I've ever seen. Someone needs to tell Hillary that this isn't Tara and she can't just summon Barack Obama whenever it tickles her fancy. He's his own candidate and this crap where they treat him like a child needs to stop.

I hope to God she's not going for the black man with a white woman angle. This country, consciously or no, has a lot of stigma attached to that image. It strikes me that a very shrewd observer would note that the more a black man appears with a white woman, the more some of us want to hang him from a tree (sorry for be