Presidential Debates 2008 Schedule Under Fire; Will it Change?

McCain Wants to Postpone Debates to Focus on Wall Street; Obama Says No, Wants to Reach Main Street

Sylvia Cochran
Rather than fiddling while Rome is burning, Senator John McCain has chosen to suspend his campaign efforts and do the job for which he is still on the payroll. This calls into question the Presidential debates 2008 schedule, and some argue that it may also affect the Vice Presidential debate 2008.

Newsday reported that John McCain contacted Barack Obama and requested a postponement of the Presidential debate currently scheduled for Friday, September 26th. McCain decided to suspend campaigning in the wake of the fiscal crisis that is coming to a head at the apparent unwillingness of Congress to sign a $700 bailout blank check.

Hoping to be instrumental in brokering a bipartisan deal, the Senator is heading back to Washington on Thursday morning.

Barack Obama disagrees and advised Senator McCain and the voting public that the Presidential debates 2008 schedule should be kept intact. The Associated Press, as quoted by the Seattle PI, reports that Senator Obama believes that in the midst of the fiscal fiasco it is now more urgent than before to have that sit down Presidential debate and discuss the issues.

Obama reasons that voters want to hear what their future President intends to do.

Although it might be more telling and inspiring to watch the candidates do the doing rather than talking the talk, it is unlikely that Senator McCain will back out of Presidential debate September 26. If nothing changes, this is the anticipated debate schedule 2008:

Presidential Debate 2008 Schedule

The first Presidential debate takes place on Friday, September 26, 2008 at 9:00 PM Eastern time. It is hosted by the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS, and is supposed to focus on foreign policy.

Vice Presidential Debate 2008

There is only one Vice Presidential Debate in 2008. Sarah Palin will square off against Joe Biden on October 2, 2008 at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. The Vice Presidential hopefuls will face each other at 9:00 PM ET.

Second Presidential Debate 2008

The second presidential debate will find Barack Obama and John McCain discussing issues in a town hall setting at the Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Once again the starting time is 9:00 PM ET.

Third Presidential Debate 2008

The third and last meeting of the Presidential debate 2008 schedule has the candidates facing each other at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. You Decide 2008 reports that the focus of the debate is scheduled to be domestic policy. As usual, the time is 9:00 PM ET.

Sources:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usmcca0925,0,3529862.story
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_mccain.html
http://www.youdecide2008.com/2007/06/13/full-2008-debate-schedule-from-dnc-and-gop/

Published by Sylvia Cochran - Featured Contributor in Automotive, Politics, Travel and Lifestyle

Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing -- full-time -- since 2005. SEO-optimized Internet copy includes news analysis, political Op/Ed and parenting as well as a...   View profile

18 Comments

Post a Comment
  • frukli 9/26/2008

    Presidential debate 2008 Watch ONLINE.
    http://tubedirect.net/index.php?q=Presidential-debate2008-ONLINE
    Watch ONLINE Easy and Enjoy!

  • Drew Chung 9/26/2008

    It is incredible to think that Americans are still being fooled by John McCain. When I hear his name, I think of deceit and ignorance. He wants people to think that he is putting America first. He told David Letterman that he couldn't do his show because he was in a rush to go to Washington to "save" the day although he hasn't voted on a bill in this regard since April! McCain wants people to think that he suspended his campaign but he didn't even do that! Watch MSNBC videos and you'll find this out about all the lies. McCain wants to postpone the debates because he is scared that his incompetence is going to be revealed. He hopes to have it rescheduled on the same night VPs were supposed to debate. Isn't that coincidental... Maybe he doesn't want America to see that Palin is truly a soccer mom that doesn't know anything about leading a country! Chances are that it will be as bad as her interview with Katie Kuric. If more Americans were informed about politics then they wouldn't be vot

  • Anton Grambihler 9/26/2008

    Since McCain refuses to debate, make it a Barr - Obama debate.

  • Concerned American 9/25/2008

    How can you guys be so stupid? Do you not see what Mc Cain is doing? He is scared of these debates and what they will do to his campaign which is built on fluff anyway, that he is trying to find any reason under the sun to get out of these debates. If it was not this economic crisis, he would have faked a food poisioning to get out these.

    Please Please start using the brain that was given to you and save this country. Don't vote for Mc Cain/Sarah Palin, the lying partners

  • Student 9/25/2008

    Ole Miss

  • A. Price 9/25/2008

    Well the country as already spent 4.5 Million on getting things set up for the debate. Not to mention, class cancellations and road closures at Ole Miss.

    I say do both. The Economy is of the utmost importance. But I like Newt's plan better - to have the institutions that need a "bail out" to "work out" of their mess.

    Either way - I am glad I am not George Bush, John McCain or Barack Obama this week...

  • Lori Crawford 9/24/2008

    McCain is certainly showing something. It's not leadership, however. Obama didn't say he wasn't going to meet on the bailout. He said that he's able to do both the meeting and the debate. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's a good idea to have a president who can multitask. If we don't and North Korea decides to act out at the same time as Iran, what's he going to do? Tell one of them to hold off until he can get the other squared away? That's absurd. From another angle, it's not a financially sound decision to postpone the debates at this point. Does he have any idea how much money has gone into preparing these venues? To waste all of that money to go talk about funding a mess he got us into in the first place is the definition of irony.

  • Tony Vega 9/24/2008

    McCain is showing leadership once again. Obama will answer the president's call and return to Washington, hopefully he learned something. Let's just hope, all drama aside, that the knuckleheads can get this economy back on track.

  • Unbelievable 9/24/2008

    I can't believe all these commenters can't tell theatrics when they see it. Unbelievable

  • jcorn 9/24/2008

    Congrats on getting this breaking news featured! Fascinating to read.

Displaying Comments
Next »

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.