That question was answered on This Week . The biggest factor is time and Obama cannot be in two places at the same time. He opted to visit camel land and Europe. He wants to concentrate on his campaign and issues. (Paris and Britney are not issues.) He also wants to take a break in August with his family.

Debates are not spur of the moment events. They must follow an agenda of issues, or it degenerates to name calling. Which happens anyway, sometimes. If McCain's political ads and public statements are an indication, I'd think he would want to avoid a debate, not Obama.

His decision to not debate McCain, aside from the traditional three debates, is truly a let down

Obama is right not to agree to McCain's idea of town hall meetings. McCain can't be trusted.

Tonight was the first in a much-hyped series of 'town hall' forums scheduled by John McCain's campaign, in which Barack Obama had been challenged to show up to discuss the issues directly with the GOP nominee.

Except, as Fox News reported, McCain's campaign misled the public about the nature of the event. The forum was "billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters," but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually "made up of invited guests and supporters,"

First off, Baldwin is not a realistically viable and electable candidate.

A vote for Baldwin is at best a throw away statement.

Now is the time to choose between the candidates of the two major parties.

Political history has conclusively shown that any other vote is a wasted vote which often helps one or the other of the two major candidates.

Of course, if you wish to make an emotional statement, then by all means go right ahead, but your tiny little whiny voice will go unheard in the forest of main street politics

Concerning the issue of "Town Hall" talks, Obama is indeed hosting his own town hall meetings just as is McCain.

Audiences of both candidates consist of invitees and supporters of the hosting candidate.

Neither Obama or McCain should be expected to appear before the other's hand picked audience.

No one with a whit of sense is going to agree to play political poker against a stacked deck.

Obama and his advisors did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

But Obama has enthusiastically agreed to the three debates against McCain in an impartial forum.

Let's see how they do in that arena.

Other debate is really unnecessary.

If McCain really knows how to "win wars" as he claims, then beating Obama shouldn't be much of a fight for him.

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Town halls or not, Obama is going be "outed" in any debats because the guy, like so many of the liberals before him, simply has no real plan. He is gambling on the unpopularity of the right and I really don't think it's enough to get him elected. It's not the dedicated liberals or conservatives that either of these piss poor candidates are after, we already know what we are going to do, it's the undecided, fence walking swing voters that they need to woo, and I truly believe that, even as a smooth talker(another creation of good editing), he just won't have the substance to win them over.

McCain will flip-flop on his responses in the first debate and totally lose it in front of a national audience.

He will be seen for what he is, a senile old fool.

As long as Obama sticks to a script he should be fine.

As long as Obama sticks to a script he should be fine

He does fine when he goes off script as well.

McCain's the one you have to worry about when he goes off-script. It drives his handlers crazy.

McCain, true to form, offered his no-pandering “straight talk,” which inevitably led to a dance for many of his answers. When asked by the moderator, former CNN anchor Paula Zahn, about his support for an increase on the federal tobacco tax, McCain turned his answer into a condemnation of government corruption.

But McCain's more contemporary flips may prove more costly than his eight-year-old flops. On several occasions since his nomination became all but inevitable, McCain has been caught in some inexplicable contradictions. It's unclear whether these situations show his personal political instincts being tempered by the strategies of his campaign staff, or if McCain occasionally loses track of his campaign's message. But either way, when McCain has to go up against himself, voters can become easily distracted from the issues.

Republicans should be worried about any debate McCain is in that is broadcast nationally.