Congressman Todd Akin.
Town hall rally
By Casey Nolen
KSDK -- Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin told his audience Wednesday morning he's only held one other town hall like Wednesday's in his time in Congress. That town hall was after September 11, 2001 and the Congressman says the issues facing the nation today are just as urgent.
More than 2,200 people turned out at the St. Charles Convention Center.
Congressman Akin called the meeting and he was the featured speaker. However, frustration with government and opposition to pending health care legislation seemed to be the motivation for most to show up.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and several state legislators also spoke, and the central theme for all was standing up and pushing back against the policies of President Obama and Congressional Democrats.
Congressman Akin appeared via video conference and he did not mince words when describing the health care bill before Congress.
"I want to say and I want to be completely clear," said Akin from an office in Washington, D.C. "That the bill that we're talking about today is the worst bill that I've seen in all my time in Congress. In fact, it is so bad, it is at least two times worse than the next bad bill, which was the cap and tax bill to supposeably fix global warming."
The crowd at the convention center was overwhelmingly friendly for the Congressman. And there were even a few who identified themselves as Democrats in the Audience.
However, at least one person was disappointed that Congressman Akin only took one question from the audience in what was billed as a town hall meeting.
KSDK