well, a much friendlier tone as you saw there than some of what we saw senators claire mccatskill andacing a bit earlier. we want to welcome cnn political contributor and republican strategist mary madeline, she's in washington tonight and here in new york steve, and jeffrey toobin, with me, as well. let me ask you first, steve, the white house says they didn't vet any of these people, it was open, a free for all, but it was a lot different than some of what members of congress have been having to go through. >> i'd be a little suspicious with a little girl saying -- why -- that was a little too much for me, i'll admit that. but i'll also say there's a big difference between the obama one in terms of the turnout, the number of people who came, in terms of the tone. and just in terms of the, i think, intellectual nature of the questions that were asked. the gentleman you showed the republican he eventually got around to asking a question about the public option. it's so important to obama and the democrats, and basically, listen, if you have the government running an insurance option,

they're dealing with them respectfully as is claire mccatskill because these are the swing voters that you folks took away from the, if you will, the bush coalition, the reagan coalition, to give yourselves that majority and barack obama, for example, take the white vote got more white voters than kerry or gore. these are the folks coming out and saying, you're not going to jam this down our throats. lose those folks and lose your blue dogs. >> they have not done a good job of communing what the stakes are. right now they don't see it as a choice between profit and health care that is more affordable to them. they see this as government control and that's something the white house has got to fix, i think, if they're going to get this through. but in any case, thank you both very much. we appreciate it. >> all right. >>> where does the white house stand now on the public option? it's a little bit murky at the briefing today. what about the government report that says the backup plan or co-ops will not work? we'll talk about all of that one hour from now with white house deputy spokesman

brianna keilar is in missouri this morning and we're going to go live to a town hall meeting with claire mccatskill. what if anything can we learn? >>> also the cnn express, gassed up and ready to go. in a few hours, pulls out of atlanta for a long distance tour through half dozen states. along the way, ali velshi and his team. ali velshi and his team will visit areas that could play a big role in the health care debate. >>> and also, we want to hear from you as always. have you been to a town hall meeting that got pretty heated? do you feel passionate about health care reform yourself? if your story has a good argument for our against the proposed changes, we want to hear from you. go ahead and send us your videos. go to i-report.com. >>> new questions today about the ability of iraqi forces to protect their people. we've got a live report on bombings in baghdad. >>> i'm rob marciano in the cnn weather certain. we're tracking tropical storm felicia. also further west or east depending on how you look at it, couple of typhoons hitting asia or dramatic video coming out of taiwan, the worst flooding

and as senator claire mccatskill is aware, it's a tough crowd. >> this is more about power and control than it is about health care. because health care's only the first -- it's the first -- it's only the first step to socialism. >> reporter: while her town hall meeting in poplar bluff threatened to boil over at times -- 50 miles southeast, another smaller meeting was downright civil. one audience member, a critic of democrats' health care reform efforts asked mccatskill what she makes of the recent rowdiness at the events. >> i think it was a huge mistake for anyone to suggest that anybody's who is opposed to the health care plan is manufactured. it's not manufactured now. i think both sides are organizing, but that's what we do in a democracy. >> reporter: as she tried to disarm critics of the democrat's proposal for a government-run insurance plan that she supports, she was also quick to rebuff conservative claims. that it would limit care for seniors, and fund abortions. >> there is nothing in the bill that mandates any kind of abortion coverage. that's simply not true. >> reporter

and respect to senator claire mccatskill, she's not black.sign, they don't attack me. >> and i also want to make sure we have time to get to the issue of health care reform, as well. you said it was very important for you to be at this meeting. you do community organizing, you say you see so many people without health insurance, your personal situation is that you do have health insurance, your husband's worked for nearly two decades for a company. you have good, private insurance. why did you feel so strongly you wanted to come out in favor of health care reform and the president's proposals? >> you know, eminent domain, i'm not going to do it, if i'm going to represent concerns to the restoration neighborhood community group, even situation that takes place in that community, i am to be their voice. i asked my board men to come with me, why are we going to this meeting? because we're here for the people. there are people who do not have insurance, we need to let them know we support this reform. if no insurance, anything is better than noth