Even though it's pretty clearly not going to happen, Fred Hiatt argues that Obama should agree to those town hall debates with McCain. Moments like this make me think it's not as crazy an idea as Noam believes; I don't want to be ageist but this is not the first time McCain has been less than quick on his feet in this campaign. (Remember the Viagra stumper?)
What's more, I think that when face-to-face with Obama McCain will be hard-pressed to keep up his snark about Britney, The One, etc. And if some voters are buying into the idea of Obama as too big for his britches, it would do him some good to bring things down to close-contact level.
--Michael Crowley