Elect Ron Kind for Congress - Wisconsin Third Congressional District

Richland Center  Maybe it was the ground rules: no signs, no disruptions and no long-winded speeches.

Maybe it was the location: a small city far from a big media market.

Or maybe it was the simple fact that several hundred people gathered at the tidy Richland Center Community Center with the intention of actually listening to one another and their elected representative on the emotive issue of health care.

Whatever the reason Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind was able to lead a town hall meeting that was passionate, informative and, for the most part, civil.

"This is what we've been encountering in most of my public forums," said Kind, a La Crosse Democrat. "I don't know if it's homegrown Wisconsin civility. Obviously, passions run deep on both sides of the health care discussions. There was enough respect and courtesy where you can conduct a forum of this nature without degenerating into mob rule."

The standing-room-only crowd was so polite that nobody in the audience asked Kind whether he planned to run for governor.

That was left to the media.

Kind said he is considering a run for governor.

"I'm flattered that so many people from across the state have contacted me and asked me to be a candidate for governor," he said. "And I'm hoping the next election will be about the future of the state."

Kind's low-key and deferential style - he is a congressional centrist, after all - was on display in the town hall meeting. Hundreds filled a basketball court.

Kind sat near a basketball hoop. On the table beside him was a copy of a congressional health care bill that runs 1,017 pages and resembles a phone book. Questioners, selected by random number, stood at a microphone set by a 3-point line.

The constituents, pro and con, gave Kind their best shots. The crowd was divided roughly between those who believe government should have an increased role in health care and those who don't.

Dave Wester, a cancer survivor from Elroy, told how he had to battle an insurance company to receive a blood stem cell transplant. He credited several politicians, including Kind, with helping him win the fight.

Wester called the federal government "the good guys" and the insurance company "the bad guys."

Leo Hunstiger, a cancer survivor from Richland Center, said the United States has the world's best health care system and that government reform would ruin it.

"This is about much more than health care. This is about the power grab going on in Washington," Hunstiger said to cheers, with one man even shouting, "Freedom!"

Susan Peterson of Gays Mills said those who don't want a public option for health care "are not without compassion. We just don't believe the government can run it."

Fred Diller, a retired farmer from Blue River, said he "doesn't want government-run health care, period."

But if such a plan were adopted, he suggested it be tried on a one-year basis in three states: New York, California and Florida.

The crowd laughed.

David Ebbert, a carpenter from LaFarge, said he was 53 and would gladly "buy into Medicare right now. Medicare works."

Bert Sylvander of Wisconsin Dells said he would like the government "to be like Priceline and negotiate with insurance companies."

Kind said there was a "lot of consensus" on what must be done with health care, including not denying coverage to patients because of pre-existing health conditions.

Kind said that if a public option on health insurance is enacted, it would have to be on a level playing field, with the same capital requirements as private insurance and without public subsidies.

"A lot of people in this country want that choice of having the public option," he said.