We've see 21 Debates so far. In most primaries we're lucky to see half that many.

Hillary is desperate to make more attackes on Obama's personal life. He would be a FOOL to take her up on any more Debates this close to the final two BIG States that will most likely END this thing FINALLY.

He should simply ignore her spoiled brat immature bullying tactics. She's trying to set the agenda by advancing her talking points to the media and challenging him on her terms.
Of course, the media is always happy to be her megaphone and stenographer.
He needs to NOT take the bait by simply not responding.

He should accept.

Things change like gas prices, food shortages, Iran election and Iamanutjob wants to talk about nukes, Syria bombing, w's meeting on the North American Union, etc...

Hillary who?

Obama's only real opponent now is John McCain. Hillary can go pound sand.

(Though it would be fun to see his campaign counterpropose a REAL Lincoln-Douglas debate with each candidate speaking for an hour.)

Amen, Hillary who?

Let's get this clear for those of thickened skulls

She Lost. It's over.

Run the old Lawrence Welk tape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aHJTvD2WgA

"Adios, au revoir, auf Wiedersehen...."

We'll set whatever rules seem fair.

Just me or are these the words of someone who already has a really, really clear idea of what rules seem fair?

This would've been a good idea like 20 debates ago. Or maybe as soon as the field had been reduced to just Obama and Clinton. People are just too sick of debates at this point.

We've had more than enough debates, and they are obviously bad enough even with moderation. Having no one around to shut her up when she wants to go off on something does not seem like a good idea.

She needs to cut the desperate tricks to try to get a leg up. Besides, I don't even think she can perform in debates effectively anymore, with getting used to having the moderators attack Obama for her and all.

If she wants to keep escalating she should just challenge Obama to a fight to the death.

Watch her try that if she loses Indiana.

She's broke. in debt and didn't raise the $10 mil she claims to have - it was all a shell game, like her 10, no $!5 mil debt. Even if she did rasie close to her stated amount, most is probably for the GE,, just like last month when she said that "almost all" of the $20 milion she raised was for the primary, but according to the FEC filing last week, only 12 was.

She's a patholigical liar.

Of course she want 90 minutes of free ad time.

Obama didn't bite. He emphatically said, NO.

One of the things I don't think the media folks have articulated properly is the ramifications of Hillary wrestling the nomination away from Obama.

From my vantage point, Obama has the "cleanest" path to the nomination. He is leading in the most important yardstick for voters to understand, the pledged delegate count. This is how the system is set up. His argument for the nomination is easy to understand and extremely logical for the regular voter to figure out. Hillary is attempting to cloud the picture with her talk of the "popular vote". For her it brings back memories of 2000, which still makes dems like me wince. I totally understand why she is trying to make this new argument on a theoretical level, but it is clear that the pledged delegate lead is the cleanest argument by far. That is why his argument never changes, and hers does with each primary vote.

So, by this measure, the nomination clearly is Obama's to lose. He will absolutely end the primary season with the most pledged delegates and therefore, his claim to the nomination will make sense to voters sense of fair play. He won by the yardstick that was in place at he beginning of the process. It will make sense to the average voter.

So when I see Hillary trotting out polls showing that she does better in certain states (Ohio, PA) than Obama, what the press never seems to mention is that her path to the nomination is much more difficult and fraught with peril for the Democratic Party. Any scenario that gives her the nomination (other than discovering photos of Obama with a naked teenage boy) will without question involve undermining the expressed will of the voters of the primary season. Her path is the one that will create the riots on the streets of Denver. His path does not.

So assume for a moment that she manages to snatch the nomination from Obama under these circumstances. It will essentially destroy the Democratic Party. Black voters (one of the bases of the party), young voters (also known as the future of the party), and very possibly the "upscale educated" voters (that would be us, minus Matthew, gotalife and Otto) will leave the party in droves. No Democrat can get elected without these groups.

No polling with her numbers in a general takes into account her destructive path to the nomination. That is one of the huge flaws of her campaign right now. She trots out her arguments of "electability" but the linchpin of her path involves undermining the expressed will of voters. No polling asks these questions. And therefore these polls mean less than nothing until they factor in her only path to become the nominee.

Can't wait for the ad...

audio: the sound of a clucking chicken

voiceover: "Clinton wants you to decide. Instead Obama hides. What's he so afraid of? "

visual and audio: Hillary Clinton talking to the public.

voiceover:" Hillary Clinton believes you deserve to know where she stands."

Hey Gang, I hope Obamba changes his mind about the debates. I'm from Oregon and I am very hopeful that we will get to see a live debate. Oregonians rarely get the privilge to see the candidates, let alonge witness a live debate. What a wonderful thing for a new president to say, that they really did stand for change and let every persons vote count. I want a Pres that will go the extra mile. Don't wimp out on what you are afraid might happen or McCain will win.
America can't be asked to continue the burden of a broken county. Debate and show your STUFF!

If I see a mosquito on my arm trying to suck my blood, I don't attempt to save it and place it in a jar to live another day.

Pokette - We had a debate here in Texas but nobody could get tickets to it. It was all party officials etc. So you'd still be watching it on TV like the 21 debates before. And if Obama debates her that would be the same as saying Hillary has a legitimate path to win. Did McCain debate Huckabee after he was the presumed nominee?If she wants air time, let her pay for it.

Debra, I think I would have a pretty good chance to witness a debate. I did get to see Hillary, Obama and former President Clinton. You just have to be willing to stand in rain four hours. It was worth it. Of the 21 debates, only 4 were between the two candidates, and alot has happened since then. I have read the Oregon Hillary.com website regarding the solutions for the problems we are having in Oregon. They are sound ideas. I want to hear what Obama's plan/ideas for our state are. The last time he was down it was a wonderful pep rally, but no substance. Our state is in peril and we need a quick acting plan. You may be blessed to live in a well to do state. Most of our good jobs are over seas now. We pay the second highest gas prices and on and on.

Debra- Obama is not the persumed nominee. Yes, you would ike to believe that but the race is not over. Your comparison of McCain/Huckabee is outrageous. The delegate count wasn't even as close as it is between Barack and Hillary.

I can totally understand why he's scared after the last debate he looked less than HOPEFUL. In fact there were certain topics discussed that he wished he could CHANGE. There were also a couple of questions that made him look a little BITTER.

"I have read the Oregon Hillary.com website regarding the solutions for the problems we are having in Oregon. They are sound ideas. I want to hear what Obama's plan/ideas for our state are. The last time he was down it was a wonderful pep rally, but no substance."

Let's see. You went to Hillary's website to learn about her policies, yet either attended an Obama rally or saw the coverage on TV. From this, you conveniently agree with the Clinton talking point that Obama is no substance. You are aware most of Obama's policies are laid out in detail on a website, correct?

You may be too stupid to search "Barack Obama" on the internet, but I don't think so. I'm calling troll.

Yadda Yadda. When is the first Obama vs McCain debate scheduled for?

Too bad Obama turned it down. Had he done well he could have erased the image of his last debate.

For the life of me, I don't understand why the Obama supporters complain that Clinton is trying to "wrest the nomination" from him.

Isn't he also trying to wrest it from her? Why is it okay for him to try to get himself nominated, but not okay for her to try to get herself nominated?

Why the double standard?

Because it's a delegate race, and Obama won it. If the superdelegates overturn the clear leader in delegate count than the voters might as well had stayed home and let the superdelegates pick the nominee in the first place. Why have an election? The rules were set up for who won the most delegates. Clinton wants to change the rules because she lost the delegate race, but I seriously doubt the superdelegates will destroy the party for the Clintons.

I was thinking the same thing myself.

An exchange of words is called intercourse...You do know what the is don't you Hill?

As they say on the South Side of Chicago. Never give a sucker an even break. We've moved past you Hillary and we're not coming back.

Link??

Breaking headline: Senator Clinton asks for do-overs.

I live in southwest Oregon, and I have seen eight of the 'debates' so far, and I don't want to see another one. Those dog and pony shows were not debates, they were manufactured crap to drive up ratings. If you don't know where the candidates stand by now then you are beyond hope.

Hillary needs a 'debate' to legitimize her candidacy, and I hope Obama denies her it. He needs to focus on wrapping the primary up and on McCain. Hillary is nothing more than a dangerous distraction for the party. She is no longer relevant, and ceased being so onceit was clear that Obama was going to win the primary.

I hope Barack just ignores Hillary and the traditional media catcalls to 'debate'. It will just be another three ring circus that accomplishes nothing except to give Hillary another chance to go after Obama for whatever latest tripe she has armed herself with.

It is time for her incompetent campaign to come to the end that it should have long ago. She had every advantage coming in to this, and other than her initial super delegate lead, she has trailed since the start of the primary contest. Obama beat her fair and square, with the deck stacked against him from the beginning.

Obama is presidential material people. Despite the odds against him, he pushed forward and pulled it off. That is the sign of someone who can get the job done, even against what looked to be insurmountable odds.

He has won the primary, get over it.

Who gets to be Lincoln?

Correction: it furthers the fiction that she can win without doing something nasty to the party first.

No polling with her numbers in a general takes into account her destructive path to the nomination. That is one of the huge flaws of her campaign right now. She trots out her arguments of "electability" but the linchpin of her path involves undermining the expressed will of voters. No polling asks these questions. And therefore these polls mean less than nothing until they factor in her only path to become the nominee.

You are absolute correct. At some quote her negativity will come back to bite her in the ***. Republicans are going to recall this and play up her divisiveness. Won't be good for the Dems.

Clinton's proposal smacks of the deperation that her hapless campaign faces. It's not anyone's fault but her own that she has reigned over one of the most ignominous failures in modern political history.

For most of 2007 we read or heard the word "inevitable" alongside her name in every news report. She owns the Democratic party establishment, yet she has seriously lagged in fund raising. Now that she's staring down the barrel of a humiliating defeat, she is willing to tear down the prospects of the party in lieu of accepting the fact that she has miserably failed.

This on-on-one WWF cage match debate gimmick is just her latest attempt to create a freakshow hail-Mary moment to obstruct and delay in the hope that lightening might strike her superior vanquisher. Comparing her proposal to the "Lincoln Douglas" format demonstrates yet again that her campaign cannot seem to come up with anything that is not poorly researched and half baked before going public.

Please Superdelegates, oh please do the right thing and end this freakshow now.

Debates are good for democracy and for candidates. Win or lose, they get directly in front of votes and not through the filters of the media. Unless Obama needs to hide behind the media, he should be right up in front supporting debates.

Matthew
http://www.TheIndependentView.com

Once again Obama is on the defensive.
Once again Clinton controls the narrative.
Once again Obamites claim it's all about money.
Once again Clinton continues to lead in the actual popular vote.
Once again Obamites want to change the rules to claim the delegate leader is the nominee.
Once again Obama shows fear.
Once again Clinton shows leadership.

And once again the people are deprived of substantive interchange because once again, Obama is afraid to be off script.

Cluck, cluck.

I do believe Obama has turned down the debate, and Hillary is making that an issue. Increasingly Obama is looking like 1) he doesn't want a repeat of his flop on ABC, and 2) he just wants to coast to victory on his earlier victories before Super Tuesday and Texas/Ohio/Pennsylvania.

The fight for all the marbles for the Democratic Nomination is far from over. These two are fighting like aninnals, and just like Angelo Dundee had Sugar Ray Leonard fighting like an animal when he knocked out Thomas Hernes in the 14th round! This is the big enchillada here, and anything and anything goes, get it! Not pretty, but they are fighting for the most powerful job on the planet! Of course their real challenge will be to knock out the old fool and king of war mongering John "Wayne" McCain. For the sake of America's future, we better ALL this old fool does not somehow steal the election in November.

He already agreed to an NC debate over a month ago and much hay was made in the media about her not accepting. So now she changes her mind and calls him a wuss ?

The sooner the woman exits the national stage the better.

Hillary's Problem Ahead....The Weather !

I just checked the forecast for the next 2 weeks in Indiana and N. Carolina and noticed that Hillary may have one major problem ahead....The Weather ! For the next 2 weeks you will notice that all of Hill and Bill's rallys will be in outdoor venues....parks...back yards...parking lots...etc.. The reason? She's so broke she can't afford to rent halls anymore for her appearances. So they are forced to holding their rallys in 'free' outdoor venues. Problem is....it's supposed to rain alot in both Indiana and N. Carolina over the next couple weeks. So what will they do ? They can't afford to go indoors....they can't cancel...And now that she has been known not to pay her bills the halls want their money up front.That's where the Hill supporters come in. If you are a true, strong supporter of Hillary....she needs you all to do an Indian...'Hope it DON'T' raindance ! Seriously....she needs your help. Just stand in the mirror and start your don't raindance jig...but then stop....look in the mirror....and ask yourself.... Is this REALLY who you think should be running America !

Visit: Blacks4Barack.org
(A Multi-Racial Grassroots Org...Dedicated To Truth)

Clinton's looking for free airtime.

Why in the world would any politician agree to a "free form" debate with no moderator? That's just stupid.

You Obamabots really don't believe that everyone is not in love with him. I will vote repub for 1st time, if he is nominee.

Obama has a BAD CASE OF FRAIDIUM! Signs are a yellow streak done your back, knocking knees and fear of debating Hillary Clinton one on one.

Isn't doing anything to win the quality Clinton supporters admire in their candidate? Hence it's OK for pledged delegates to switch allegiance, it's OK to elevate the GOP candidate over the Democratic rival?

Why, then, even if it is "running out the clock", is that a negative for Obama?