Breaking News!!!!-Obama and Clinton agree to not just ONE but TWO more debates!!!

[Tropics_Dude83]

Yay!! Now we will have 22 chances to hear the same thing over and over:

Obama Statement on Accepting Debate InvitationsFrom the Obama campaign:

OBAMA ACCEPTS INVITATIONS TO DEBATE IN PENNSYLVANIA AND NORTH CAROLINA

CHICAGO — Today, Barack Obama accepted invitations to nationally televised debates with Senator Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia on April 16th and in North Carolina on April 19th.

The Pennsylvania debate will be hosted by ABC News and held in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, April 16. The North Carolina debate, hosted by CBS News at a location to be determined, will be hosted by CBS and moderated by Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer.

“Senator Obama welcomes the opportunity to openly debate Senator Clinton on the issues important to Americans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania and hopes that she will accept these invitations as well,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Clinton Statement on Pennsylvania DebateFrom the Clinton campaign:

Hillary Clinton Accepts ABC’s Invitation to Debate Sen. Obama in the Keystone State

The Clinton campaign today announced that Hillary has accepted an invitation to participate in a primetime debate hosted by ABC. The debate will be held in Philadelphia, PA in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The debate will be broadcast statewide and nationally.

Hillary is prepared to show she has real solutions for the problems facing residents of the Keystone State.

Hillary is the only candidate with a plan to end the housing crisis and help people keep their homes. Hillary’s plan takes bold action to stem the tide of foreclosures with a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a five year freeze on interest rates for subprime mortgages.

Hillary is also the only candidate with a health care plan that covers every American. Her plan allows for maximum flexibility while making sure health care costs are affordable for working families.

Hillary hears the voices of Americans concerned about their future and is focused on providing solutions to the problems they face.

Clinton, Obama Agree to Pennsylvania Debate
Both candidates sign on to April 16 debate in Philadelphia, to be broadcast by ABC.
Obama also agrees to still-unscheduled CBS North Carolina debate.

[Bicoastal]

1. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!

These aren't about the issues anymore. The other side is simply hoping for a "gotcha" moment.

They're not debates--they're figure skating competitions, and we're all waiting for one or the other to slip on the ice and fall on their asses.

[XemaSab]

4. Well put

n/t

[writes3000]

6. Thank you for making me laugh. Figure skating comp is exactly right. n/t

[boston bean]

23. When are you O supporters going to realize he does not have this sewed up.

If he did and he was getting all goodie goodie feelings from party insiders, this would have been over with. They know he has electability problems.

[Bicoastal]

37. And you think 2 more debates will solve anything? How?

[reflection]

29. Excellent comparison. n/t

[Whisp]

30. well said. but I kinda like seeing Barack whenever I can.

so it's not a total lose from my viewpoint.

[bluestateguy]

2. Swell

I supposed after Ohio and Texas that he would have to indulge her with ever more debates.

Let's get it overwith.

[Alexander]

3. Right on! Hillary can get booed two more times!

[Whisp]

31. lol!

that is a perk, isn't it?
guaranteed she'll pull off something either hideous or stupid.

[MadAndy]

39. I wonder what she will whine about this time? eom.

[annie1]

51. i always love the comment people boo. the boo'ers are lame. they comments are funny.

[leftstreet]

5. Oh God NO!

:banghead:

[ericgtr]

7. I'm debated out personally

If we don't get it after 20 of them we never will. I look forward to Tivo'd reruns of The Simpsons and Family Guy instead these debates. :D

[democrattotheend]

25. Me too, although I might try to get tickets to the one in Philly

I've never been to one live...that would be pretty cool.

[knixphan]

8. oh goodie

more discussion of health care plans that don't come close to Conyers'.

Gotta be something Hill wanted, why would the O camp care about rehashing?

[Coexist]

9. oh please.... make it stop...

ugh.

[eissa]

10. Just great

More fodder for SNL to use.

[Sir Jeffrey]

11. I'm not watching this shit anymore...

I already know what is going to happen. Obama is currently behind in PA by about 19 points. He'll make up between 7 and 12 points. Hillary will still win and spin herself into the ground about how Obama cannot win big states. This will go back and forth again and again until, eventually, the Superdelegates do what they should do right now: pick someone and put an end to this miserable bullshit.

[K Gardner]

15. Ditto.

[knixphan]

20. Ditto.

[importDavid]

12. One can only hope that the 2nd one will not happen...

Because Hillary has bowed out of the competition after either losing or having a draw in PA...

[beachmom]

49. You're wrong. Hillary is HEAVILY favored to win PA. Not only

do the demographics favor her, she has the power of a major machine led by the governor of that state.

[uponit7771]

13. Why would anyone subject themselves to watching another hour of "...we have the same issues..."

[K Gardner]

14. Oh fuck, just fuck. More canned responses from Hillary, more MSM playing of feigned outrage

over and fucking over, more post-debate analysis, more "poor me Hillary", more runup to debate, more polling before and after debate, more WHO WON, more MY GUY WHIPPED YOUR GUYS ASS here, more Penn/Wolfson et all spinning.. god, they're writing the "boo lines" now for Hillary.

[Occam Bandage]

16. I'm not even sure I'll watch this one. How many times can we say the same shit?

Yes, Hillary voted for the war. Yes, Obama was never married to a President. Yes, Hillary has mandates in her health plan. Yes, Obama suggests cross-border raids in Pakistan. I think we get it by now.

[LisaM]

17. They have not debated one on one 21 times

I wish people would stop saying that. I personally enjoy the one on one. I wish they would make them real debates, however, versus this tableside chitchat. Same questions, same time, same number of rebuttals. Is there some reason they can't or won't do that?

Moreover, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are too vastly different places, worthy of two separate debates.

[Tropics_Dude83]

18. Obama needs this debate badly

To make up ground in PA. I don't see how he even comes close though because the democratic machine is rock solid behind Clinton.

[democrattotheend]

21. I am worried about PA for the same reason, but not sure a debate would help

He's gotten a LOT better but she is still the better debater. I'm surprised he accepted this...I guess maybe now that he has plenty of time to campaign he's not as worried about having to give up campaigning time to prepare for the debate.

[Nedsdag]

40. He performed well in Cleveland and Austin.

It STILL didn't help him in the Ohio and Texas primaries

[haymakeragain]

44. Didn't he get more delagates in Texas?

Thought so.

[me b zola]

46. Those were open primaries where Rush campaigned for her

--and it seems he did get out the vote. Despite all of that, in the end Obama took Texas.

My initial feeling on this is that it gives Obama a chance to call Clinton on some of the ugly crap that goes straight to her campaign. He's going to force her to eat a bunch of shit, or (more likely) she will end up defending the indefensible. If she does the latter she will lose potential voters in droves.

[Political Heretic]

19. I gotta admit I'm suffering from debate fatigue.

[katty]

22. o lord....more of this

[ecstatic]

24. I bet she was hoping he'd say no

So she could waltz around PA and NC saying that Obama is "scurred," while saving herself from another embarrassing episode like what happened at the Ohio debate.

[Tropics_Dude83]

27. If he wasn't 22 points behind in PA, I would say no to debates

But just based on the delegate math alone, he needs to keep PA close. We don't want her picking up 26-30 delegates.

[WinkyDink]

28. What's this "we"?

[haymakeragain]

45. It's called

lame stealth.

[beachmom]

50. Al Giordano predicts exactly that:

http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=888

Delegate Math Guarantees Clinton a “Big, Big Pennsylvania Victory”

The press will try to make a race of it. There will surely be polls showing the race tightening, perhaps even suggesting that Obama could win it. But that’s just part of the predictable song-and-dance to sell newspapers and up ratings (and hit counts, for the political blogs and news sites that sell ads). The way the odd-numbered delegate districts break down, the demographics, the fact that it’s a closed primary (no Independent voters allowed), and its long border with the senator’s New York state make it a lead-pipe cinch for Clinton; to the extent that Obama supporters enter the “no, but yes, we can win it” narrative they’ll be walking into a trap.

...

Total projected district and statewide delegates:

Clinton: 92 pledged delegates
Obama: 66

That will be a net gain of +26 delegates.



Obama supporters: you need to adjust your expectations. Hillary will trounce Obama in PA, but it is hardly the only race left, and The Math is still heavily in Obama's favor.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. That Philadelphia debate was pushed by

Congressman Bob Brady (PA-1), who is also chairman of the Philly Dem. party. I work not far from the Constitution Center and I can imagine the traffic nightmare... :crazy:

[meow mix]

32. Well this is better for Obama, it opens the door to PA voters to switch support. which they do..

hillary is desperate and she has no choice, hehe

[krawhitham]

33. April 16th Hmm

that day after Hill claimed she would release the Tax infomation

[ElsewheresDaughter]

34. make it one that goes at least 9 hours or until one of them is rendered unconscience...no mods

[TahitiNut]

35. Immediately after April 15th ... can anyone say "tax and spend"??

I'm willling to bet that the word "tax" is one of the most frequently used.

:eyes:

[gateley]

36. DU is not the real world --

And there are probably people in both PA and NC who haven't watched a single debate who might actually pay attention because the debates will be held in their states. We've heard it all before, but not everybody has, and I hope these will be helpful for those who haven't.

[SKKY]

38. Well, perhaps now we'll have a real debate, and the Clinton campaign...

...can be called on some of the garbage their people are "floating" out there.

[anonymous171]

41. She's going to go hypernuclear. It's going to be scary.

[mmonk]

42. dang. I'm a delegate to the county convention

which is going to be on that date.

[littlebit]

43. I want

to get tickets to the one in NC. It will make a great b-day present for me.

[Kaylee]

47. Why?.....do we hafta do this?

We need a whining emoticon.

[peoli]

48. All this does is shorten the 40 days wait to 32 days.

[Khaotic]

52. Oh My Gawd!!!

I feel like I've been beat to death w/ debates.

I'm from Iowa and I've been listening and hearing for more than a year now.

It's been more than a year since Hillary came here to Davenport in 10 degree weather w/ her "In It To Win It" speech and her "If I knew then what I know now" excuse.

More than a year since Obama declared.

Going on a year since I first saw Obama in July inside of a packed high school gym at Davenport North High. More than 4,000+ people stood back to chest and shoulder to shoulder that night in that tiny gym.

I had the chance to listen to Obama two more times in person and all the candidates on television numerous times in debates before my mind was made up. I took it all in and made a very educated decision before caucus night on Jan. 3.

While the rest of the country might have tuned in later, surely they have seen what both of the candidates are about by now.

Two more debates?

This ONLY serves the needs of the Republican Party at this point.

No matter who you're talking about, every time they're on camera answering questions from the press there's an increased chance that something will not have been researched, something will come up that only a half-answer is known. A question that plays to the advantage of the Republican Party and is used in a Democratic debate for the sole purpose of derailing BOTH candidates.

It's fine if that happens AFTER our nominee is known, as those are the types of questions that are expected to be gunned at both nominees of both parties, but now?

Geez ... am I the only one that sees the writing on the wall here?

The GOP is loving every single bit of this.

You can bet that now that McLame is the nominee that the media will seek him out and give him a chance to have a rebuttal of every point made by both Obama and Clinton. His comments will be thought out and written by the GOP slime machine.

I don't know if everyone here knows what McLame has picked up since becoming the official nominee. What kind of databases, support and money he has now at his finger tips.

The only thing he has to get close to is his delivery, and while he's not good, we know he's better than *. If * can use the machine and play it w/ the MSM, then you can bet McLame can.

The first debate will be held by Disney Inc. Hmmmm, I wonder how many millions and millions of $$$ that company has given to the GOP?

This opportunity to slam Obama to get Clinton for an improbable GOP November Hillary BBQ will not escape Disney. But don't think for a moment that Hillary will cruise through the whole debate. Disney will not miss the opportunity to gouge Hillary too. Not so much to give an advantage to Obama, but in an area that will play well to McLame in the Fall. No doubt they'll be making their moves based on the very small chance Hillary is the nominee.

WTF?!?!!!!

[Arkana]

53. Oh goody! More of Hillary

whining about how she always gets the hard questions!

:waaahmbulance: