Barack Obama is taking "very seriously" the idea of holding town-hall style discussions alongside John McCain, his chief strategist said Sunday.

Promoted by the McCain campaign, the events would unfold as joint debates, perhaps without a moderator, and resemble the approach taken during the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen A. Douglas presidential race of 1860. They'd been seen as an opportunity for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to travel the country with his Democratic counterpart -- whoever that may be.

Asked how seriously Obama is considering joint appearances, campaign adviser David Axelrod responded, "Very seriously. We take that as a serious idea. And again, we believe that is the most significant election we've faced in a long time.

"We're at war. Our economy is in turmoil. And we've got so many challenges that the people of this country deserve a serious discourse, and it shouldn't be limited necessarily to three kind of very regimented debates in the fall. We ought to begin sooner, and we ought to have a free-flowing conversation about where we want to take this country. So you know, we're interested in that proposal and eager to sit down and talk about it," he told "FOX News Sunday."

But cordiality between McCain and Obama may be limited to logistics. Earlier this week, McCain noted that a Hamas spokesman said the terror group is hoping Obama is the next president. Obama responded to that by suggesting McCain is "losing his bearings," language that the McCain camp called a dig at the Arizona senator's age.

Axelrod contended the McCain camp was being oversensitive and denied Obama was touching on the age issue.

"When we say 'losing his bearings,' we're talking about the fact that he promised an elevated campaign, a campaign on issues and so on, and he's been engaged in a series of kind of gratuitous, ad hominem attacks lately. ... Let's not engage in the nonsense that he knows isn't the fact, that he knows demeans not just Senator Obama but himself in the process. That's what Senator Obama was referring to," he said.

With just six contests remaining until Democratic primary season ends on June 3rd, many are counting the number of pledged delegates, superdelegates and popular vote tally to say that Obama has wrapped up the race against Hillary Clinton.

Clinton is likely to win West Virginia on Tuesday and Kentucky the following week if polls are anywhere near accurate. Her spokesman Howard Wolfson said Sunday that the race isn't over. Clinton's victory in the swing state of West Virginia proves once more that she is more electable than McCain in a general election.

But it was the rationale behind her argument that had drew considerable criticism this week. In an interview with USA Today, Clinton said she attracts more "hard-working Americans, white Americans" and that makes her more electable than McCain in the Fall. Critics pounded Clinton, suggesting her implication is that black Americans aren't hard-working.

The Clinton campaign said that criticism couldn't be further from the truth, and Axelrod also gave Clinton a pass on Sunday, calling the supposed intent of her argument not only misstated but also factually inaccurate.

"The words weren't well chosen, but the thesis was wrong," Axelrod said. "I don't imagine that she chose the words as she would if you asked her that question again. And the truth is that that isn't even the fact. In Indiana, we split voters who make $50,000 a year or less evenly. We did better among non-college-educated voters there. And the same is true in North Carolina."

He added that he doesn't think Clinton wants to hurt Obama's chances for winning in the fall by turning the Democratic contest into a debate on race. He would not say whether Clinton would be considered as a possible vice presidential candidate, a scenario that Wolfson also refused to discuss.

"I think all of this discussion about V.P. is premature. We think Senator Clinton is going to be the nominee. If she's not, it'll be up to Senator Obama who he decides to choose. If it's Senator Clinton, it'll be up to her," Wolfson said. "I haven't discussed it with her, she hasn't discussed it with me. I have seen no evidence of her interest in it."

Wolfson also confirmed that the Clinton campaign is about $20 million in debt, but would not discuss efforts to retire the debt, perhaps with the help of Obama.

"Senator Clinton is going to be the nominee. When she is in the nominee, we will be in the position to retire our own debt," Wolfson said.

Axelrod also rejected the idea that the Obama campaign would retire Clinton's debt, saying that Obama will need the resources to run in the general election.

"She hasn't asked, and we haven't offered," he said.