The Charlotte Observer’s David Ingram reports Sen. Barack Obama declined to commit to CBS’s proposed North Carolina debate on April 27, raising serious doubts that CBS will in fact get a primary debate this election cycle.
In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Obama said, “I think that obviously we’ve got to structure our campaign so that we’re reaching as many voters as possible, and it’s not clear that the April 27 debate will work for our schedule.”
Two weeks ago it seemed certain that a CBS debate, which has gone through many incarnations, would take place. The AP initially reported both candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Obama, had agreed to the date and location.
Sen. Obama told the Observer, “I don’t know that they are ending up being more informative than the kinds of town hall meetings that we’ve scheduled.” Which means tomorrow’s debate in Philadelphia could the last for the Democrats.
TVNewser has calls in to the Obama campaign for comment.