On the same day as a historic congressional vote in favor of sweeping health care reform, New Hampshire advocates for the measure gathered in the State House plaza yesterday to cheer for the bill's passage.

About 150 supporters turned out for the event, most heavily festooned with stickers, pins, advocacy group T-shirts and handmade signs advocating reforms intended to expand insurance coverage to more Americans and constrain the growth of health care costs.

The crowd cheered, chanted and waved signs, despite some clashing cheers and sign-waving from a smaller group that came to demonstrate opposition to the bill.

It was a coincidence that the long-planned event, put on by the advocacy groups Organizing for America and Change That Works, came as the U.S. House prepared for a vote that night. U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who had been slated to speak to the crowd, was instead busy in Washington. Few people in the crowd seemed much concerned about her absence.

"Is it not appropriate that on this historic day that we're gathering here on this historic plaza?" asked Ray Buckley, the chairman of the state's Democratic Party, one of several speakers at the rally.

With the recent push to finalize health care reform legislation in Washington, an array of local politicians have opined on the issue. A few hours before the rally yesterday, Manchester Mayor and U.S. House candidate Frank Guinta hosted a forum on the issue in the city's aldermanic chamber. The event drew about 40 residents, most sympathetic to Guinta's view that the health care legislation was too expensive and gave the federal government too much control over the system.

"People in New Hampshire do not want a government-run health care system," Guinta told the group. "We need to be really aware of the repercussions if that bill was to pass."

Guinta began the event by asking for civility, and audience members largely acquiesced. They asked questions, offered occasional applause and waited to be called on before they spoke.

Lined up on a table in front of Guinta's podium were three stacks of paper. One was the nearly 2,000-page health care bill that Congress approved last night. One was an earlier House version of the bill - weighing in at about 1,000 pages. The last one was a recent health care proposal introduced by Republican members of Congress, which was significantly slimmer.

When asked by an audience member, Guinta said that the Republican plan, which would provide individual tax credits to those buying insurance and expand the ability of individuals and small businesses to band together to seek coverage in large groups, was not adequate to address all the problems in the country's health care system. An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that, if passed, it would only expand coverage to about 3 million people without insurance.

"This is the first of many (proposals)," Guinta said. "And I've got a few of my own ideas."

Leah Wolczko, who attended the event from Goffstown, urged attendees with concerns about the bill to travel to the Concord event.

"We should get in our cars after this and go there," she said. "And stop and get a piece of paper and a Sharpie."

Wolczko was among the 40 or so demonstrators who came to Concord to express their opposition to the bill. Carrying signs with messages like "No to socialized medicine" and "Constitution now," they began their protest on the sidewalk and slowly edged closer to the larger event, ultimately clashing with organizers who asked them to leave because they didn't have a permit.

"We have a First Amendment right to be here," said Susan Carroll of Atkinson, who later said it was her "patriotic duty" to protest.

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