BINGAMAN HOPEFUL DEBATE FOCUSES ON ISSUES.

Photo Credit: MG Bralley

We may have seen a preview of Republican John McCain's strategy for tonight's 2nd presidential debate tonight during his brief speech at UNM yesterday afternoon, but soon-to-be senior U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman says Barack Obama is ready and on his toes.

Sen. Bingaman just told us he hopes both candidates stick to the issues and present their ideas to help solve some of the country's more pressing issues.



John McCain will finally get his wish granted tonight in Nashville, Tenn., when he will appear with Barack Obama at a town-hall-style presidential debate at Belmont University.

McCain tried unsuccessfully earlier in the race to get the Illinois senator to agree to participate in a series of town-hall appearances prior to the formal debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, but negotiations fell through.

The Arizona senator would seem to have an advantage heading in to tonight’s forum since he has long favored the more-relaxed atmosphere and direct interaction with voters—although as The Wall Street Journal noted this week, the McCain campaign has recently curbed the number of town-hall events as the campaign has intensified.

Tom Brokaw of NBC will moderate, but the questions will come from the audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond, and the forum is not topic-specific so viewers can expect a wide variety of issues to be covered this evening.

The tone of the rival campaigns has turned increasingly negative in recent days. McCain’s campaign has been doing its part to highlight Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers , and Obama’s campaign has released a Web ad noting McCain’s involvement in the Keating Five scandal.