Among the right on this day - according to the fine print on their signs or their bull-horned testimony, were 'Birthers', members of Glen Beck's "9/12" movement, and local 'Tea Baggers'.
On the 'left bank' - within a crowd that at least at the outset was nearly twice the size of their opponents, was an African drum band, a marching band, and several solo guitar players. The crowd itself seemed comprised largely of Democratic activists and union workers, most of whom were not especially musical.
And yet for a while the left side serenaded their opposites with an eclectic mix of patriotic tunes, protest songs, and classic folkies, occasionally breaking into monotonous chants that were meant, it seemed, simply to drown out the voices on the other side.
In between local, state and federal police kept a close eye on the crowd - none of whom seemed overly eager to cross over and confront their ideological opponents directly. There were shouted, occasionally heated exchanges, but the two sides were just far enough part to take the sting out of most personal attacks. There was also the occasional 'bullhorn duet', which no one but the bullhorn owners seemed truly interested in. But for the most part the two sides disdain for one another was kept at a distance and the flimsy orange police tape seemed sufficient.
At one point someone from the right side of the street - for reasons unknown to me, ventured across and confronted a group of union activists. The police moved in quickly though, and escorted the man back to his side. On another occasion the police noted a member of the protestors was openly wearing a gun on a small belt around his leg. New Hampshire law, I am told, allows for guns to be carried in plain sight.
By 11 a.m. several hundred people with tickets had queued up at the front of the High School, and the Secret Service began to slowly move them into the building.
Meanwhile . . . on the inside
With the prospect of the President having to face the same kind of attacks seen at other Health Care Town Halls across the country, a very large contingent of press were in attendance. But the crowd inside gave the hundreds of reporters and photographers very little to YouTube home about.
The Portsmouth Town Hall event was covered live on MSNBC, but as soon as it was over, I am told, coverage switched immediately to Missouri, where Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill faced a far more hostile crowd.
Was the crowd inside the High School in Portsmouth, better behaved than expected because of the presence of the President? According to published accounts tickets to the event were distributed - as is the normal practice for White House sponsored Town Hall events, randomly via the Internet. There were of course, dozens of local Democratic officials and activists who were given additional invitations to the event. The first audience question went went to a man who identified himself as a Democratic legislator from a nearby town. The crowd was clearly on the President's side, but several of the questions that were fielded by the President, if not antagonistic, did express serious concerns about the health reforms being considered. The President assured the audience - and Americans tuning in, that despite what they might have heard there was nothing in the regulations being considered that was aimed at knocking off Grandma. When asked about the potential for rationing of care, the President said that right now, the only one's rationing care were the Insurance companies.
The President also took the opportunity to speak again of his mother's battle against cancer and how, in the midst of her struggle, her insurance had been cancelled. Other examples of insurance companies denying benefits to people when they most need it - were cited. "Health insurance should be there for you when you need it," Obama said, "not just when you're paying premiums, but when you get sick."
Meanwhile outside the auditorium, as the President spoke the crowds thinned a bit but did not completely melt away. By the time the Presidents motorcade left Portsmouth approximately a hundred individuals, on each side, were still facing one another and - perhaps a bit hoarser than they had been five hours before, still discussing the fine points of Democracy. When the motorcade departed however - and these last dedicated dozens left their designated areas, there were few if any confrontations between those who had been eyeing each other for so long.
Even the arguments outside the auditorium seemed to be less vitriolic than those we have witnessed in other parts of the country, at less formal gatherings.
Perhaps New Hampshire residents - with their famous first in the nation primaries, are more experienced with these kinds of events and with confrontations with from different political perspectives.
Inside the Portsmouth High School auditorium a brass band played patriot songs, the crowd sang the National Anthem, and - with the air conditioning going full tilt, civility reigned.
