Since The Uptake was livestreaming the event, and the venue had no wireless, I tweeted Congressman Walz's town hall forum in Mankato. Not sure if those cryptic observations made sense to others, so review of media coverage should help make sense of what happened tonight in the Mankato East High School Auditorium.
Save for the last paragraph, where Walz isincorrectly identified as a Blue Dog Democrat (he's not), Warren Wolfe's report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Walz hosts a noisy, yet rather civil town hall: Rep. Tim Walz met the jeers and cheers head-on in Mankato. Points were sometimes shouted, but in the end all applauded, is an accurate report on the meeting I attended with my friends who served as photographers and videographer.
Mankato station KEYC-TV's coverage focused on opposition to health care reform. KAAL-TV from Rochester suggested the opposite, saying that there were "more Democrats in this crowd than Republicans." KARE-TV mentioned the town hall as part of a general story about health care reform.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Independent picked up on DJ Danielson's firsthand citizen journalist report about a meeting with John Kline in Kline: Town halls are a 'circus for our side, a nightmare for Dems'.
UPDATE: Media outlets have added several articles since this post went up. The Mankato Free Press's Mark Fischenich reports in Forum raucous, opinionated; Session extended beyond schedule:
[Bethany Lutheran College student Mary ] Ramirez, after the meeting, had a very different reaction.
“I was very impressed with Rep. Walz,” she said, comparing his performance to those by other members of Congress she’s seen at televised town hall meetings. “He knew what we were talking about. ... He was very much a representative of the people. He does connect.”
That said, Ramirez — who hopes to go into politics after earning a masters degree — completely opposes government-centered health care reform.
Ramirez had asked a detailed series of questions based on her reading of the bill, and Walz had engaged in a lively discussion with her. When former Senator Dave Durenberger tried to move the discussion to another question, many in the crowd booed. Walz stayed on her questions, and the courtly Durenberger later apologized to her during the forum. Minnesota Public Radio checked in with Health care town hall meeting contentious, but polite.
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