Civil Forum on the Presidency

==Format==
Held inside Saddleback's Worship Center, the event was the first joint appearance of the two presidential candidates during the campaign.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/07/mccain-and-obam.html|title=McCain and Obama agree to first Joint Appearance, and it's at a Church|access-date=2008-08-18|work=The Illinois Review|date=July 21, 2008}}</ref> It was broadcast live on national news networks, as well as several [[evangelical Christian]] networks such as [[Trinity Broadcasting Network]] and [[Daystar Television Network]]. Tickets for the sold-out event were distributed to church members by raffle for prices as high as $1,000.<ref>
{{cite news 
 |last=Barboza 
 |first=Tony 
 |title=John McCain, Barack Obama will appear together at Orange County church 
 |date=July 21, 2008 
 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] 
 |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-saddleback22-2008jul22,0,4225424.story?track=rss 
 |access-date=2008-07-23 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080722194652/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-saddleback22-2008jul22%2C0%2C4225424.story?track=rss 
 |archive-date=2008-07-22 
 |url-status=dead 
 }}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saddlebackcivilforum.com/index.html|title=McCain and Obama agree to first Joint Appearance, and it's at a Church|access-date=2008-08-18|work=The Illinois Review|date=July 21, 2008|archive-date=2021-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125042611/http://saddlebackcivilforum.com/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
Both campaigns agreed to the format of the debate&mdash;two consecutive interviews&mdash;and Senator Obama went first, as determined by a coin toss.<ref name="cos"/> The coin toss was conducted by Rick Warren's staff on behalf of McCain and Obama, who were not present.<ref name="cnn_lkl_transcript">{{cite web|title='Larry King Live Interviews Rick Warren' transcript for August 18, 2008|work=Transcript|publisher=[[cnn.com]]|date=August 18, 2008|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/18/lkl.01.html}}</ref> Some groups opposed the forum, including the [[Americans United for Separation of Church and State]].<ref>[http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=10005 Voters Have Heard Enough About The Presidential Candidates And Religion, Says Americans United].</ref>