<b>Senator Obama, you're invited</b>

Sen. John McCain came up with
a terrific idea Monday when he was handed an invitation to meet with
our editorial board as part of our endorsement process.

"Why don't you invite Senator (Barack) Obama to join me?" McCain suggested.

McCain noted that he has been frustrated in his attempts to have
"just the two of us stand there and answer questions" in a town-hall
format.

"Unfortunately, he (Obama) has refused to do so," McCain told our
colleagues Debra J. Saunders and Carla Marinucci at the start of an
interview at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel.

Senator Obama: Consider this an official invitation for a debate with McCain before The Chronicle's editorial board.

The format would be straightforward and substantive, modeled after
the five debates we hosted (and streamed live on the Web) with
statewide candidates in 2006. The candidates would have sufficient time
to answer questions. If they tried to duck a question, we would follow
up. Voters would have a chance to see video of the editorial board
meeting in its entirety.

Senator McCain gets extra points for proposing a unglossed,
unscripted, groundbreaking version of the presidential debate in the
bluest of states and at a newspaper that last endorsed a Republican for
president in 1992.

What do you say, Senator Obama?