As Congress moves toward some sort of conclusion on health care, Republicans remain united in their opposition, while the White House and Democratic leaders are working to win over still undecided Democrats whose votes are critical to passage.

But not all of the action on the bill is taking place in Washington. On Tuesday, there was a pair of noisy noon-time health care rallies dueling for attention outside the district office of Democratic Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy in Columbus, Ohio.

Sending A Strong Message

They lined a quarter-mile stretch of busy road not far from the Ohio State University campus. On one end, supporters of the health care bill, and on the other, the opposition.

Kilroy is a freshman Democrat who won the slimmest of slim victories in this swing district in 2008. She is considered vulnerable in this year’s midterm. She did vote yes on the House version of health care legislation in November. But she has not yet said what she’ll do when the final vote comes up. Those on both sides said they expect her to support it, though both sides also wanted to send her a strong message, Tuesday.

Forty two-year-old John Frye was standing with the opposition. His 5-month-old daughter was sleeping in a sling across his chest.

“We just came out here today to try to get this stuff from being rammed down our throats,” he said. “We don’t want it.”

That’s a phrase that you hear over and over from those against the bill. Its repetition is a measure of how organized the opposition is in getting its talking points to the street level. More evidence of that is that many of the people who oppose the legislation are very aware that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has floated the idea of using a procedural move to advance health care out of the House without a stand-alone vote on the Senate version of the bill.

“If they can pass it, pass it,” he said. “Straight up and down. But don’t do this back door stuff. It’s crazy.”

Nearby, 60-year-old Steve Krempasky said he’s been unemployed for two years. He’s a truck driver. But his wife works, so he’s got health insurance. He’s wearing a shirt that mimics that iconic silk-screened image of Barack Obama from the campaign. Except, this shirt features George W. Bush and the phrase: “MISS ME YET?” Krempasky said he does miss the former president.

“Right now it appears that the government, especially the president, is not listening to what the people have to say,” he said.

‘Health Care Is A Right’

Meanwhile on the other side, a somewhat smaller but still noisy crowd gathered.

“I’m here because I believe health care is a right,” said Maggie Green, a music teacher and musician. “I believe peoples lives are being destroyed by the system that’s currently in place.”

When asked about the possibility that Pelosi was considering procedural maneuvers to get the bill passed without a standalone vote on it, Greene said she hadn’t heard about that. But she said it’s important to get the bill passed even if it means using other methods ” period.

For the first hour, a wide driveway into the parking lot of Kilroy’s Columbus office served as buffer between the two opposing camps of protesters. Police on bicycles kept an eye on things. There was no trouble. But at some point the divide was breached with predictable results, and arguments ensued.

Congresswoman Kilroy was not in her district office, she was back in Washington, so she witnessed none of this. She issued a statement thanking each side and says their views will be crucial in her decision making process.