Baron Hill featured in the Wash Post, trying to explain his town hall cowardice

From Dina Cappiello in the Washington Post (hat tip: Craig Ladwig)...

"The war's on," says Rep. Baron P. Hill, and he's not talking about a conflict overseas, but a battle over health care in his own back yard...

Hill's response-- to run-away with his (blue dog) tail between his legs.

Hill, a blunt and pragmatic politician known for moving cautiously, helped postpone a final House vote to give lawmakers time to assess attitudes at home.

Blunt and pragmatic? Isn't that an oxymoronic combination?!

...the Republican National Committee is running a radio ad saying he "folded like a lawn chair" under White House pressure. Conservative opponents are accusing him of ducking honest debate. Obama supporters by the dozen are using tactics more typical of a political campaign to keep him on board.

So many people are calling and writing Hill that the telephone lines in his Bloomington office are often jammed. The phone traffic to his Capitol Hill office is so heavy that one staffer sends an e-mail when he needs to reach colleagues there. On Wednesday, Hill's office mailed 8,400 responses to voters.

One thing Hill is not doing is holding public town-hall meetings like those at which opponents have heckled members of Congress....

"He needs to answer the people. He voted yes. Why? Tell us why, Baron. I'm not going to hang you in effigy," said Salem pediatrician Christy Lane. She failed several times to reach Hill's Washington staff, so she instead called the nearby Jeffersonville office....