The fate of the debate

Will McCain show up for his first televised duel with Obama? Should he?

John McCain will be doing the nation a disservice if he skips the Friday night debate, said the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune in an editorial. He wants the event postponed until Washington has hammered out a fix for the financial crisis. But Americans are more worried than ever, and they deserve “to hear more from the candidates for president, not less.”

Ditching the debate would be a big mistake for McCain, said Walter Shapiro in Salon. Even many Republicans have ridiculed his “hardline position.” But it’s his opponent, Barack Obama, as a freshman senator, who “has the most to gain or lose” when the candidates finally face off.

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