Why not McCain vs. Obama?
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of seven formal meetings during the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858, in which Republican Abraham Lincoln argued the issue of slavery with the Democratic incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas. On July 24 Lincoln issued a formal challenge. “Will it be agreeable to you,” he wrote to Douglas, “to make an arrangement for you and myself to divide time, and address the same audiences during the present canvass?” With some reluctance, since he was the better-known candidate, Douglas accepted, and the terms were agreed upon. The first of these debates was held on August 21, 1858 in Ottawa, Illinois and the last in Alton on October 18. The success of Lincoln in these debates was instrumental in launching him as a candidate for the Presidency in 1860, which he won. On June 4 In front of hundreds of Baton Rouge residents, Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for President, pleaded his case to become the next president. At the meeting, McCain announced he
