Just talked to a member of Team McCain preparing for tomorrow night’s debate in Nashville. There’s been a lot of talk about “taking the gloves off” and coming out swinging at the debate, but I didn’t get a sense of that from this conversation. “I think the point of the town hall debate is to connect with the American people,” the McCain person said. “Our first goal is to show that John McCain gets it.” When I asked what “it” was, the source said, “That he understands the concerns of the American people better than Barack Obama does.” The source pointed out that McCain has done far more town halls than Obama and has heard and spoken with more concerned citizens.

McCain strongly wants to turn around the notion that he is somehow out of touch while Obama is somehow in line with the voting public.

I asked about Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and the issue of Obama’s associations. “I don’t know if that will come up in the town hall,” I was told. “We want to address the concerns of the questioners and the issues that are on their minds.” My sense is that it won’t come up unless it is brought up by audience members.