Moderator. Obama wouldn't agree to town hall.

That's extremely disappointing.  Town Hall style is where they are truly tested and have to think on their feet.  Not sure why Obama wouldn't agree to that.

:(

Hmm.  Looking at the bounce link it's interesting to note that the Democrats tend to bounce more than the Republicans.

The data only goes back to 1964 but the average bounce for the Democrats has been 6.18 and the average bounce for Republicans has been 5.27.

Also of interest was the Democrats had both the highest and lowest bounces.  Clinton got a 16 point bounce in 1992 for the high and Kerry got a 1 point drop in 2004.  That was a bit shocking.  I can't see how any politician could get a drop from their convention.  On the Repblican side the highest bounce was 8 points and the lowest was 2.

Now I wonder if there are statistics that show bounces that result from October Suprises?

The median 'bounce' is 5%, not the 10% that was suggested here earlier

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People define bounce differently. Suppose candidates A and B are tied at 45% and after a convention A is at 50% and B is at 40% A only went up 5% but his lead is now 10%.

McCain has been challenging Obama to townhall debates for months. How have you missed that?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/213806.php

Somebody doesn't have a job anymore.:0)

Hmm.  As of June it looks like Obama had tentatively agreed to Town Hall debates.  Though, it may have changed since then.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/04/mccain.town.hall/inde x.html

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain challenged Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday to join him for a series of 10 town-hall debates.

Calling for "no process questions from reporters" and "no spin rooms," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee proposed one debate a week from now until the Democratic party convention in August.

McCain cited a 1963 agreement between President Kennedy and Sen. Barry Goldwater to hold such debates as part of the 1964 election campaign. Kennedy was assassinated before the campaign began.

"What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty sound bites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections," McCain said in a letter to Obama released by McCain's campaign.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe welcomed the idea in principle but suggested some changes to the format.

"The idea of joint town halls is appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country," he said in a statement released by the Obama campaign.

"We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. But, having just secured our party's nomination, this is one of the many items we will be addressing in the coming days and look forward to discussing it with the McCain campaign."

Oops.  Spoke too soon.  As of August it changed.

http://news.yahoo.com/story//cq/20080803/pl_cq_politics/poli tics2933571

Not sure why Obama wouldn't agree to that.

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Why would he? He's been the frontrunner for months. Conventional political wisdom says the guy in front stands to lose the most in a debate.

In all fairness, if McCain was in front, I'm sure he'd be ducking the tough debates, too. It's just good political strategy.