WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Sunday brushed aside a challenge from Hillary Rodham Clinton to debate before the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
On Saturday, Clinton said she wants Obama to face off with her in a debate without a moderator, Lincoln-Douglas style.
"I'm not ducking. We've had 21" debates, Obama said on "Fox News Sunday."
"For two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure we're talking to as many voters on the ground, taking questions from voters," he said. "We're not going to have debates between now and Indiana."
The more open style of debating where each side presents an argument gets its name from the famed debates that took place during the 1858 U.S. Senate race in Illinois between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas.
Trailing in delegates and the popular vote, Clinton has been stepping up the pressure on Obama for more debates in advance of primaries on May 6 in Indiana and North Carolina.
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