This is a theme now in McCain’s campaign, and you have to hand it to him that he’s getting the upper hand on these things by beating Obama to the publicity punch. A while back, McCain made a “challenge” to Obama to commit to public financing–which would suit McCain great because Obama is a fundraising giant, with the added advantage of raising most of his money from citizens in small denominations, where McCain is more dependent on large donors and PACs. Obama would have to be stupid to give up that incredible advantage, but McCain scored points off the impression that somehow the challenge shows McCain is somehow more of a campaign-finance saint, when in fact McCain is immersed in lobbyists.

Then, a few days ago, McCain pulled a similar stunt on Iraq, pointing out that Obama had not been to Iraq in a long time, and “invited” Obama to go with McCain to Iraq. Never mind that McCain doesn’t seem to have even the most fundamental facts about Iraq down, such as whether or not we are or soon will be back to pre-surge levels; never mind that trips to Iraq are for PR purposes only and don’t do much to actually educate politicians about what is going on there. McCain was able to play the situation up to make it look like he’s the knowledgeable expert on Iraq–despite the fact that he’s made almost every wrong decision on Iraq, while Obama has made better ones from day one. For Obama to go to Iraq with McCain would be pointless–neither would really learn anything–and doing so would allow McCain to lord his “superior” status over Obama, acting like the teacher giving Obama lessons.

And now McCain is taking the initiative in the debate arena as well, calling for ten town-hall debates with Obama. Again, it makes it sound like McCain is being open and reasonable–but at the same time, it plays incredibly unevenly in McCain’s favor. McCain does terribly at podiums, while Obama does very well; the town hall, meanwhile, is McCain’s home-field advantage, coming across as more homey, while Obama is not as skilled in that venue–and you can bet that McCain’s campaign would play to the hilt the low-expectations game, touting Obama as the great orator so that when McCain does well in town halls, Obama will look all the worse. So many town hall meetings would also play to McCain’s financial advantage, as they would give McCain more visibility and exposure without having to pay for it. So Obama would not be wise to take McCain up on that, at least not in full.