On TV today, John McCain joked that the only way he could trump Barack Obama’s plan to deliver his acceptance speech not in the hall at the Democratic convention but at a 70,000 seat football stadium would be to parachute into the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St Paul. But there is something else he could do: hold a town-hall meeting with un-decided voters in Minneapolis-St Paul rather than deliver a conventional convention address.
McCain can not hope to compete with Obama as a set-piece orator so he shouldn’t try. Instead, the McCain campaign should use the hours of prime-time coverage across all the networks to show voters their candidate in his best setting, the town-hall meeting. Directly answering voters’ questions with a little straight walk would also draw a potent contrast with Obama speaking in vague terms, admittedly beautifully crafted vague terms, to an adoring and unquestioning crowd from a podium.
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