Clinton Letter Requests Debate A Week With Obama

Clinton campaign manager Pattie Doyle has released a copy of a letter sent to Obama's campaign, seeking a debate a week through the rest of the primary season. Read it below:

David Plouff
Campaign Manager
Obama for President
Chicago, IL

Dear David:

Congratulations again on your victories Tuesday night. As Senator Obama declared, it was a great evening for Democrats.

One of the things I've always appreciated about the Democratic Party is its willingness to engage the toughest issues facing our country, even if we don't always agree on how best to solve them.

After seven years of a Bush administration that has left the economy struggling and our health care system in crisis, Americans are certainly facing their fair share of challenges and deserve to hear how the candidates for the nomination will address them.

As such, I was disappointed to see that Senator Obama rejected the idea of having more debates given the fact that he and Senators Clinton have had only a single one-on-one debate. I think we can do better and so does Hillary.

Senator Clinton believes voters should have more than one opportunity to see the candidates discuss the issues and has accepted five debates between now and March 4th from CNN, MSNBC, WJLA, ABC and Fox News.

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To that end, we hope Senator Obama will join Senator Clinton for a debate a week beginning this weekend. I'm sure we can find a suitable place to meet on the campaign trail. There's too much at stake and the issues facing the country are too grave to deny voters the opportunity to see the candidates up close.

As Senator Obama has said, "In an era when Americans are rightfully skeptical about the quality of our politics, let us set an example [they] can be proud of and give them the kind of campaign they deserve." We couldn't agree more.

Best wishes,

Patti Solis Doyle
Campaign Manager
Hillary Clinton for President

+++

Obama responds -- he's not interested:

Mr. Obama said most of that fighting would be done on the ground in the next voting states, not in debates. When asked whether he would accept the invitation from Mrs. Clinton to attend four more debates in the coming weeks, he laughed.

"I don't think anybody is clamoring for more debates," he said. "We've had 18 debates so far. I think we've had 10 more than we've had in the last Democratic contest."

He said he would agree to at least one debate, but noted, "It's very important for me to spend time with voters."

Comments

[mrcontinental]

I agree with Obama. Enough debate spin; take it directly to the voters, that's were he excels.

[joselopez]

ENOUGH DEBATES FOR NOW. Obama as stated, should make his case to the people on the ground for the next few weeks. Those upcoming States are small and he/she could make direct pleas to them on the ground.

That being said, I would suggest he signs up for at least one or two debates before March 4 primaries.

[Svenson]

Change, Hope, Present, CHICKEN

When a man does not ahve the gut to accept an intellectual debate challenge from a woman but instead twists the facts and lie in his campaign gatherings where his lies are not exposed, and he claim to be able totake on the republicans .....

I rather vote for a girl anyday

[thegreatgiginthesky]

What exactly do you want to hear them debate about? At some point the talking needs to stop. They have both laid out their stance on the issues clearly. How many more debates? 10? 15? 20? How about a nice even 50?

[BikerJim]

I wonder if Hillary would like you calling her a "girl".

Anyway losers always want more debates....

[transendentilist]

As president, he won't have the luxury of only having to deal with the things he wants to deal with.

[mirandaK]

Yes, well said.

Man up Obamah, man up. Debate.

[transendentilist]

He is not going to have the luxury of dealing with only the things he is good at. Try telling some foreign dictator that you don't want to talk, because you excell at something else. All I ever hear are flowery speeches and vague abstractions. Obama is a con man.

[hannabanana]

Memo to old fat ass: Re More Debates

Wouldn't you rather be spending your evenings in bed with your girlfriend?

[robynuva]

So HRC can't manage to budget her money (she had $100,000,000) and now she is broke. She can't manage to run her schedule, since she had no contingency plan for after 2/5/08.
Yet, she is the experienced manager who will be ready on day one to run the country? I wouldn't let her balance my check book.

No free media, no FOX news. Let her get out and explain how she mismanaged her campaign, but can manage the country.

[Svenson]

You are just another person who knows nothing except scream and shot .. 100 million ... most of them is for the general election you dimwit

[BikerJim]

To bad sahe won't get to use that money for the General Election, since she WON'T be the nominee.....

[AgathaX]

Well said.

[OtayPanky]

Judging Clinton and Obama's executive skills on the management of their campaigns, the conclusion is obvious.

She starts WAY ahead, with a team, an organization, and a huge donor list. He starts with nothing.

She manages to spend herself broke, squander a 20 point lead, and send even former friends over to the other side. He makes something out of nothing, and ignites a whole new generation of voters.

She sends Bill out to play bad cop, while he takes a high road.

Yeah...their executive experience is VERY different.

[BikerJim]

Careful that sounds like good experience and good jugement...

[PTTY]

OBAMA does not have to accept anything from Hillary, she has no money and is trying to use free press.

And if and when Obama wants to debate Hillary he should never sit down, that only benefits Hillary.

Hillary needs Obama to debate SHE HAS NO MONEY.

DO NOT DEBATE HER.. She needs Obama, DO NOT GIVE IN.

[Svenson]

Of course he does not have to ..

His refusal send a BIG STATEMENT... i can only read the prewritten speech on the teleprompter .. hope and change, yes we can...

Other than that we have seen him stumbler on stage

and he has nothng to talk about other than his speech on the war and his change in senate .. stand when lobists eat their lunches.

Clinton shouldgive him a concession .. he can bring his cheer squad ... ted ken c ken oprah, maria, jess jackson,cnn, msnbc, huff n puff.....

C'mon Obama, you are the first black man to take on a white woman as president .. show us that you have what it takes.. tell us what your changes and hope are ..

[JerryJef]

We are about to learn whether Obama has a backbone and the character to be President. The determinant is his decision to accept or reject the proposed debate on the Murdoch/Ailes Facist Propaganda TV Channel. If he agrees then he will show he has neither backbone nor character.

[hannabanana]

Didn't take long before an infantile clintonista issued a schoolyard taunt.

Geesh, why don't you triple dog dare him?

[Svenson]

When a 'man' refuse to accept the challenge to a fact debate .. it says something about the 'man'.

I would never vote for a spineless 'rethoric'

He ahs nothing to talk about in a debate

[AdLib]

The paradox of this grade school argument by this and the other Hillarybots and Hillary-paid trolls is this:

If Obama doesn't obey Hillary, he doesn't have the backbone to be president.

I thought the Geneva convention outlawed such severe torturing of logic but I could be wrong.

[Countess]

The Clintons really are desperate now that the states are cracking down on robo-calls.

[Mendel2323]

This is such an obvious attempt to:

a) Keep Obama from doing what he does best (i.e. pressing the flesh). HRC's camp knows the more time he spends in the presence of voters in each state, the better he does;

b) Get free coverage of HRC spouting talking points each week. (I freely admit the woman knows how to take control of a debate. No matter what the question is, she can filibuster for 4 to 5 minutes offering nothing but her talking-point-riddled, mind-numbing double speak -- it's aggravating.); and

c) Play a (no surprise for HRC) highly cynical game of "gotcha." Her campaign knows they are running a tear-shedding, be-cankled robot who has basically been running a campaign for 35 years. Their calculation is that if they can run a debate a minute, they can catch Obama doing something or saying something human, and, possibly, unfavorable.

STICK TO YOUR GUNS, OBAMA! No one but the most uninformed moron can possibly not understand at this point what the differences are between the candidates. And those uninformed morons don't need to be voting in a primary in any case.

[billbird]

Be-cankled? Please, seriously...

[123xyz]

Wanting to give an organization like FOX the attention a debate would bring them is a pretty low move for a Democrat. Next she'll be sitting down with Rush to get a little free news coverage. And the whole 'what are you? chicken' taunt is something most people mature beyond before graduating high school, kind of sad to watch Hillary and Bill O sharing the same script.

[OtayPanky]

CLINTON CAMP PRESSES OBAMA TO ACCEPT DEBATE CHALLENGE

===

How about this:

"Obama camp presses Clinton to admit she was wrong to authorize Bushco to go to war."

[theuniversal]

Dear Patti:

We understand that the Clinton campaign has run out of funds and that even after Senator Clinton was forced to kick in $5 million of her own, you have a debt of around $10 million.

We also sympathize with your failure to plan for any of the contests coming up after Feb. 5. Some may consider that to be poor judgement and leadership on your part, but you can hardly be blamed for the mismanagement given your certainty of wrapping up the nomination by Feb. 5th. With a 2-term President at your side and the benefit of a political network developed over a period of 20 years, who can blame you for feeling that you were entitled to win the nomination without working for it.

In these circumstances, your request for a new debate schedule makes perfect sense. Who in your shoes wouldn't want to get some free publicity and prevent Senator Obama from campaigning for a few days while you're at it?

But while we sympathize with your plight, we regret we are unable to help you. Senator Obama himself does not need the free publicity. His campaign is flush from raising $32 million in January in addition to the $7.5 million we have raised since our clear victory on Tuesday. But more importantly, our campaign, unlike yours, has in fact planned for each and every one of the upcoming contests. It is important for us to stick to our plan to ensure that we execute as well in February as we did in January and December. We hope you'll understand.

P.S. Feel free to spin our rejection however you want in the press. Senator Obama will be poking lots of fun at your transparent and desperate plea in every one of his stump speeches for the next two weeks, so we are confident the voters will come to see your 'debate request' for what it is.

All the best,

People
Who are tired of your deception and silly games
Barack Obama for President

[eztempo]

You nailed it, "theuniversal." Just go ahead and forward that draft letter to the Mainstream Media -- the poor dears need a clue.

[BikerJim]

Out Feaking Standing Post. It is funny, insightful andspot on....Thanks

[transendentilist]

Excuses, excuses, excuses. What's obama afraid of???

[RationalDem]

They've already debated multiple times, and say the same things each time.

Hil is trying to keep him from the stump.

[transendentilist]

Face to face, just between the two of them?? That's only happened once. I am not going to vote for someone who won't give me a better picture of HOW he is going to work these miracles he keeps promising.
He's cutting and running, and he's not even in office yet.

[SARGE1]

This Is Hillary Trying To Advantage Of Free Air Time Because She Is Broke. All The Democrats Agreed Not To Debate On Fox Last Year Now Hillary Agrees. That Is Just Like Her And The Lobbyist She Does What Is Good Hillary.

-Sarge1

[TxWonderWoman]

Sorry Sarge. Hillary has raised over 4 million in less than 48 hours. And the money keeps coming. I know Obama raised more but your statement that Hillary is broke just ain't true. What is true is this.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/104200/Gallup-Daily-Tracking-Election-2008.aspx

[theuniversal]

Since the 'National Primary' day was Feb. 5th, nationwide polls means ZERO from now on. They don't at all reflect what's happening with the voters on the ground state to state in the coming contests. I guess you didn't get the memo?

And I guess you didn't get this memo either, which says a hell of a lot more than any national poll at this point:
http://www.intrade.com/

Hillary's campaign strategy has done nothing but go wrong, and now she can't raise money. Obama's, on the other hand, has played out precisely as he said it would almost a year ago when he announced his candidacy. If the question is which candidate is proving consistently to be the best leader, to have the best plan and judgement, and to be the most competent at managing an organization, there's only one answer. If you want to give Hillary more money you should do it soon, because her campaign won't be around in a few weeks time.

[BikerJim]

So now that you have found a poll that show favorably for HRC, you think they are important... Typical...

[soylentgreenleftovers]

Why any Dem would agree to debate on fixed noise channel is a mystery....it is the propaganda organ of the Republican party and as such should be ignored/marginalized/ridiculed by the Dems.

[union79]

What gall ~ to not only want five more debates but on FOX???? Is her memory so short that she forgets she was part of the candidate group who said no to Fox. What's changed???

Let me guess:

1. Running out money. Debates = free air time.

2. Wants to reduce time Obama has to campaign person to person as he does so well.

3. Hopes more debates will equal gaffs by Obama.

Sorry Hillary, as so many have said: 1. One more max and NOT on the FoxNoise channel.

[TxWonderWoman]

What are you people afraid of? I think you'll change your minds when this trend continues and starts to sink in.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/104200/Gallup-Daily-Tracking-Election-2008.aspx

[union79]

Fear is not the issue!!

Obama supporters reject politics based on fear!

The more Obama gets out among people via his town meetings, the more people get to know him and the more his message gets across.

I for one hope he will keep doing what works!

[theuniversal]

Feb. 5th is over. So national polls mean nothing. Think about it. Everybody knows that including your candidate.

If you want a real indicator of the current state of the race, you should looking at this:
http://www.intrade.com/

[Jacee]

This is a no money issue. She is at the mercy of free TV. More debates would mean that she can talk on someones else's dime. What happened to all her millions? If she can not manage a few million through the course of a campaign, how can she manage the nation's budget?

Hillary bet all of her marbles on Super Tuesday. Her arrogance got the best of her. Her high paid staffers were rolling in it,but the party is over. She never thought that anyone would have dared to run against her. You can see it in her eyes when anyone confronts her, she gets wicked pissed-just like Bush. How dare Obama mount a campaign of his own??? Bad planning Hillary.

He dared to do it and now he is in a good place. His campaign has a long term, 50 state plan that will unite this country. All states. He is in a good place.

Hillary has demonstrated she does not play fair in debates. She engages in manipulation, lies that go unanswered and when all that fails-she pouts and cries. Its embarrassing to see her engage in all the old 'girl tricks' to get an advantage.

If she can not afford to get around the country she could take the bus. Or Bill could come out with one of his famous attention whore moves, get some air time that way. Some creepy antic that she will then have to disavow and forgive him for.

(BTW, who out there wants to see more of Bill Clinton's creepy old man moves and her long suffering abused wife routine)(Not me)

Obama needs to keep meeting the public on his own terms. I see no need for another canned, over produced, over moderated, useless debate. There are no revelations, it just give the more manipulative candidate a platform to perform and play gotch ya.

Obama has a well thought out, mission driven, fiscally responsible, productive, honorable campaign. I am sure he plans to manage the nation in the same manner.

Fired Up. Ready To Go

Obama 2008