Polite Debate at Grassley's Iowa Town Halls

Not all town-hall meetings are raucous. And some take place in libraries.

Back home for his first set of public events since Congress left its recess, Grassley has packed his town halls, which he holds in the same locations every year, more than ever. When he showed up in Winterset on Wednesday morning, his aides had already moved the event from a meeting room in the library to a nearby park, as a crowd that would normally be about 70 was instead several hundred. In Afton, an event that had been planned at the city hall was moved to a Methodist church nearby, and even then people were standing outside the door trying to hear the longtime senator.

And note this exchange:

Iowans just might be less eager to yell and be rude. When one man in Afton asked Grassley why he was eager to change a health-care system that many Americans like, the senator started referring to a private conservation he had with a Democratic senator on Capitol Hill.

"Which one?" the man shouted.

"I can't tell you that," Grassley said.

"Why not?" the man snapped back.

"Because it was a private conservation," Grassley responded.

"Oh, okay," the man said, and let the senator finish.

Imagine acceptin gthe keeping of confidentiality.