McCain and Obama to Campaign Together Townhall Style?

Now this, if true, is a brilliant move by Team McCain. Mike Allen reports, in the latest edition of his Playbook newsletter over at the Politico, that McCain operatives are thinking about inviting Barack Obama to campaign - townhall style - with John McCain:

***"The McCain camp is also examining a suggestion by Mark McKinnon, a media strategist for the Republicans, who has suggested that his boss and Mr Obama agree to campaign together in some states, attending joint town hall meetings and debating each other without a moderator. … [A] refusal from Mr Obama could be used against him.

" 'The town hall meeting is John's best format,' the aide said. 'He's a natural campaigner up close with the public. That would test Obama's claims that he wants a clean fight on the issues. John is also strong on finance reform. If Obama reneges on public funding it will look bad.' "

Shortly after that idea went out, another Politico report by Ben Smith says that Obama indicated, when contacted, that he thought it would be a great idea:

Carrie Budoff Brown e-mails from an Obama avail in Oregon that he appeared to look favorably on campaigning with McCain this summer at town halls, as suggested by the Republican's campaign advisers:

"That is a great idea," Obama told reporters in Bend, Ore. "We would have to think through the logistics on this."

But if he were the nominee and he could debate "substantive issues" with McCain before the voters, Obama said he would welcome it.

This is a great idea. While Barack Obama is mesmerizing when armed with a telepromptered speech, he is not a good extemporaneous speaker. For that reason, I think that the Obama camp is going to have all sorts of problems with the "logistics" of this, or with what a "substantive issue" is, and it will never happen. But I hope I'm wrong.