John McCain, the US senator and presumptive
Republican candidate for president, Wednesday challenged Senator Barack Obama
to a 10-debate series - and even appeared to have already booked a hall for the
first one on June 12.
The challenge came a day after Obama, 46, of Illinois, clinched the Democratic
Party's nomination.
McCain, 71, of Arizona, made the public overture at a news conference in the
southern state of Louisiana. He called for open town hall-type meetings that
would allow questions from audiences ranging from 200 to 400 people.
Obama's campaign campaign manager David Plouffe said in an e- mailed response
that the idea was appealing and was "one of many items" on the
candidate's agenda in the coming days, Bloomberg financial news service
reported.
McCain said the meetings should be one a week leading up to the formal
centre-left Democratic nominating convention that begins August 25 in Denver, Colorado.
The Republican convention follows in St Paul, Minnesota, from September 1 to 4.
McCain called such meetings "the oldest form of democracy in America," yet they would offer the American people "a new kind of debate."
McCain attributes his comeback win in New Hampshire in January to 102 town hall
meetings he held there.
The Republican candidate also proposed that he and Obama travel together on by
plane to the various meetings, to continue their dialogue, dpa reported.