McCain Draws Battle Lines for General Election

BATON ROUGE, La., June 4, 2008 — -- Before Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., could assume the mantle of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, his Republican counterpart, Arizona Sen. John McCain, was ready and waiting to attack.

Less than 24 hours after Obama crossed the Democratic delegate threshold, McCain has done more than dissociate himself from the unpopular Republican incumbent, and portray Obama as a rookie politician -- he's lobbed an unorthodox debate proposal at his presidential rival in an attempt to shake things up early with a dramatic gesture.

As proposed by McCain, the town hall-style debates would occur once a week for 10 weeks leading up to the Democratic convention in August. McCain insisted on the format, believed to be his strongest platform.

"I don't think we need any big media-run productions," McCain said Wednesday at a town hall event in Baton Rouge. "Just two Americans running for the highest office in the greatest nation on Earth, responding to the concerns of the people whose trust that we must earn."

An average orator in more traditional, constrained debate formats, McCain can come across as prickly when questioned sharply or annoyed by an opponent.

In contrast, McCain is at ease and glib in the free-flowing give-and-take with citizens in the town hall setting. He has plenty of experience in the format, too. In New Hampshire alone, he held 100 such meetings in 2007 and early 2008. He credits those appearances with his win in that state's critical primary.

New York Times columnist David Brooks said many Republicans regard Obama as a "charming lightweight." He warned that they would learn otherwise when Obama and McCain debate.

McCain appears to be banking on his ability to expose Obama, on a shared platform, as weak on national security and lacking the experience and judgment to occupy the Oval Office.

Speaking last night to a crowd of several hundred at Pontchartrain Center near New Orleans, McCain sought to portray Obama as an unknown rookie politician, while simultaneously distancing himself from President Bush more explicitly than he has done before.