Barack Obama is really pushing hard for my vote in Virginia next Tuesday’s open primary.

Obama has liberated my Monday night by declining a debate invitation.

Team Hillary complains:

Voters in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia will be able to watch “The ABC7/POLITICO Candidate Forum: An interview with Hillary Clinton” Monday night on the eve of Tuesday’s “Chesapeake Primary.”
Initially, an invitation was sent to the both the Obama and Clinton campaigns to participate in a debate sponsored by The Politico and ABC7. Senator Obama, however, declined to participate in a debate with Senator Clinton in advance of Tuesday’s primary.“We’re disappointed that Senator Obama would deny the voters of Washington, Maryland and Virginia an opportunity to see the candidates debate side by side before they head to the polls on Tuesday,” said Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee. “Senator Clinton is happy that she will have the opportunity to participate in this forum regardless. The voters deserve no less.”
The forum will air live from the ABC7 studios in Rosslyn, Virginia from 7-7:30pm ET Monday on ABC7 and News Channel 8 in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and will be streamed live on Politico.com. ABC7 will also make the feed available to all ABC stations around the country.

I realize that there will probably be a need for another Democratic debate at some point, but it’s not like much has changed from last week, when we had a mere 22 of them on that side of the aisle.