Barack Obama Dismisses Hillary Clinton Rival Debate

Barack Obama dismissed the claim he's dodging another televised encounter with rival Hillary Clinton before the May 6 primaries.

By: Rob Adams
Apr 27, 2008, 1:05 PM EDT

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama rejected rival Hillary Clinton's challenge to debate ahead of primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, saying he wants to focus on speaking directly to voters.

"We're not going to have debates between now and Indiana," Illinois Senator Obama said.

Obama dismissed the claim he's dodging another televised encounter with New York Senator Clinton before the May 6 primaries. Obama has participated in 21 debates, including four exclusively with Clinton.

"I'm not ducking," Obama said. "We've had 21. What we've said is with two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure that we're talking to as many folks as possible on the ground, taking questions from voters."

Hillary Clinton said yesterday that she wanted to debate Obama with no moderators.

"Just the two of us going for 90 minutes, asking and answering questions," Clinton said while campaigning in South Bend, Indiana. "We'll set whatever rules seem fair."

Clinton, who trails Obama in total delegates, is fighting to build on momentum gained after winning last week's Pennsylvania primary.

After the candidates' last debate, held April 17 in Philadelphia, Obama hinted he might be ending debates with Clinton, dismissing public forums as a chance for her to "twist the knife."

Obama has said the Philadelphia debate "set a new record" because "it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people."