At a town-hall-style meeting in Wausau, a woman told Mr. Kerry that she had lost her job last year.

Opinion-canvassing efforts included three town-hall-style meetings where audience members discussed what they were looking for in a music director.

Mr. Gore says he likes town-hall-style meetings.

But later, at a town-hall-style meeting in St. Louis, Mr. Bush seemed buoyant as he talked for a full hour about a variety of issues.

In August, the company set up a Web site to generate public feedback on the site, and it has since followed up with town-hall-style meetings.

The committees have also taken about a half-dozen trips outside the State House for town-hall-style meetings to hear from taxpayers.

He envisions holding town-hall-style meetings early next year in Ohio's 88 counties to identify issues, recruit organizers and train volunteers.

They appear at a mix of rallies, roundtable discussions and town-hall-style meetings.

But he has answered questions from residents at several town-hall-style meetings and taken questions from reporters at numerous campaign stops.

"I don't think there's a person in this room who believes this president went to war as a last resort," he said in a town-hall-style meeting.