Game On!

John McCain may not be the greatest orator presidential politics has seen, but he sure knows how to take advantage of an opportunity. He didn't wait for the dust to settle after Barack Obama's history making claim on the Democratic presidential nomination to ask for a series of town hall meetings across the country.

For McCain, the timing couldn't have been better. Obama was (and still is) dealing with the fallout from Hillary Clinton's long, drawn out exit from the race. So McCain sends a letter proposing 10 such meetings, with both candidates criss-crossing America together, as John Kennedy and Barry Goldwater agreed to do back in 1963.

The proposal was also structured to play to McCain's strong suits, and away from Obama's. McCain thrives in unscripted, unstructured environments while Obama does best giving speeches. The Arizona senator's camp also realizes that Obama will have trouble claiming to be the candidate of change if he backs away from this challenge. Ten such meetings before election day, an average of two per month, constricts Obama's schedule, making him tethered to McCain not just for the meetings, but the time it takes to get to them.

No doubt about it, this is an interesting gambit, one that you have to admire, even as it appears certain Obama won't bite. For him, a smart move would be a counterproposal that cuts down on the number of town hall meetings McCain wants, and sets a schedule the Illinois senator can live with.

Nice try, though.