Anywhere, anytime

Barack Obama, May 16th, 2008:

“If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime, to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, in Iran, in the Middle East or around the world, that is a conversation I am happy to have,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters at an afternoon news conference in Watertown, S.D. “I believe that there is no separation between John McCain and George Bush when it comes to our Middle East policy and I think their policy has failed.”

August 2nd, 2008:

WASHINGTON – Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday backed further away from rival John McCain’s challenge for a series of Lincoln-Douglas debates, agreeing only to the standard three face-offs in the fall proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

In a letter to the commission, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the short period between the last political convention and the first proposed debate made it likely that the commission-sponsored debates would be the only ones in the fall.