James Forsyth James Forsyth

How McCain can trump Obama’s convention address and change the course of the presidential race

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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