Obama's N.H. Town Hall on Health Care

Earlier this morning Obama fielded questions on health care reform in front of an audience of about 1800 people at a high school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was his first town hall meeting on the subject since June, and unlike last time, the audience today was not handpicked by the White House. In spite of the stories of town hall meetings erupting into angry screaming matches (like the one Arlen Spector was faced with in Pennsylvania only hours before the N.H. meeting got underway), the president ended up with a relatively civil audience.

At times Obama sounded exasperated, and took several time outs to chastise the cable news media for further sensationalizing the health care reform debate. He also painstakingly reiterated over and over again that he would not indulge the rumors about the healthcare plan, he was here to only talk about the facts.

As the health care debate continues to heat up, it will be interesting to see in the coming days whether Obama's town hall effort to get the word out makes any sort of impact on a national level.