Word: townes
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...practical matter, McCain overstates the reciprocity of these events. Over the more than 100 town halls he held in New Hampshire alone this cycle, it's hard to track many interactions that had any real effect on his policy positions. The one major historical exception is global warming, an issue on which McCain has broken with his party, in part, he says, because of all the environmental concerns he heard at town halls during the 2000 campaign. But even if the town halls are less interactive than he claims, his praise of them cannot overstate their importance to his candidacy...
...same can be said for John McCain, though his trademark medium is anything but the formal rally, where his appearances can still leave empty seats and relatively subdued crowds even in a high school gymnasium. Instead, McCain is most at home in the "town hall meeting," a modern twist on the old New England civic institution, where neighbors would gather to participate in pure democracy. For McCain, the town hall is more than just a chance for him to spread his message of staying the course in Iraq and cutting taxes and spending. It is itself the message he wants...
...These town hall meetings are the most important part, in my view, of the process, because it not only gives you a chance to hear from me - and I'll try not to make you hear from me very long - but it gives me an opportunity to hear from you," McCain said Friday, at a town hall in central New Jersey. "It gives us a glimpse and an idea of your hopes, and your dreams, and your aspirations, and your frustrations today, and the challenges that you face, and better sets our priorities, and it helps me enormously...
...wonder then that the McCain campaign is attempting to elevate the town hall format to a status not previously seen in a general election campaign, which is traditionally dominated by television ads, airport hangar rallies and formally moderated debates. McCain has challenged Obama to a series of weekly town halls this summer, an idea that is fast becoming the central argument of his candidacy. McCain's intention is to make the town hall format synonymous with honest campaigning and a new kind of politics. "I could give speeches all day long, as you know, and in different places," he continued...
...Though initially receptive to the idea of joint town halls, the Obama campaign has so far opted to treat McCain's ambitious proposal as a calculated political threat, not a high-minded invitation to improve the democratic process. On Friday, the Obama campaign said that it would agree to a single town hall, on the Fourth of July, and an additional forum on foreign policy, a counteroffer that McCain quickly deemed unacceptable. The Obama camp may have genuine concerns about how their candidate will stack up against McCain in such a format. But they are also well aware that...