Town hall tumult

I think Sen. Moran was genuinely caught off guard by the confrontational tone of this town hall, but he handled it pretty well.

They expected about 30 people and he said that he wasn't accustomed to people coming in with signs. Some of the Wichita folks there said Moran did not have an open town hall Wichita and so they came here. They might have followed him to Sedan.

It was a bit of a reverse of the Tea Party rebellion in the 2010 town halls — with liberals doing the chiding and challenging this time.

One thing Moran probably should have done is only answer questions of those people who raised their hand and followed procedure. He responded to questions shouted out from the crowd, which gobbled up some time and led to a free-wheeling session.

He did stay afterward to greet people and talk one on one, which I think showed poise and character.

Moran sounded like he wanted to find consensus and compromise on deficit reduction and job creation, although he voted against the compromise debt ceiling package passed earlier this month. He also voted against the compromise package signed last year to extend the bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits. He has not really shown that he will play in the middle, but maybe he's drifting toward it?