Town hall format has risks for McCain

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- John McCain spent nearly an hour talking about such topics as merit pay for teachers and fielding questions about public service when the town hall meeting Tuesday at his old high school took a slight detour.

Katelyn Halldorson, 16, stood up and said the event at Episcopal High School had been billed as non-political yet some of the ground covered had a decidedly political tone. "What exactly is your purpose in being here, not that I don't appreciate the opportunity," she asked.

"I knew I should have cut this thing off," McCain joked. "This meeting is over!"

Such are the risks and rewards of a campaign tool McCain has come to favor: the town hall meeting.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee credits town halls — with their unscripted, any-question-goes format — with fueling his rise on the national political scene. The Arizona senator plans to continue them through the Nov. 4 general election.

Democrats no doubt will be watching. It was at a Jan. 3 town hall in Derry, N.H., this year that McCain spoke of U.S. troops spending "maybe 100" years in Iraq provided Americans "are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed."

Democrat Barack Obama has used the first part of McCain's comment to suggest the Republican believes it's OK for U.S. troops to be fighting in Iraq for 100 years.

"There is always a risk in entering such an environment," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-author of Deeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance.

The Democratic National Committee has "trackers" monitoring McCain events, said spokesman Damien LaVera. They are "looking for opportunities to show the real John McCain hidden behind the so-called maverick image."

McCain senior adviser Mark Salter said the town hall meetings reflect McCain's desire to have a "dialogue" with voters. "They're the key to his success as a political communicator," Salter said. "They're essential."

McCain, Episcopal Class of '54, told Katelyn his visit was part of a week-long tour of places where he learned the "values and principles" that have guided him. Today's stop is the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., another McCain alma mater.