On the eve of yet another Democratic presidential debate -- this one in Des Moines and hosted by ABC's George Stephanapoulos -- Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is putting his foot down.

"We simply cannot run the kind of campaign we want and need to, engaging with voters in the early states and February 5 states, if our schedule is dictated by dozens of forums and debates," writes Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in a statement posted on the candidate's Web site Saturday morning. "Ultimately, the one group left out of the current schedule is the voters and they are the ones who ask the toughest questions and most deserve to have those questions answered face to face."

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