RIDGEFIELD — There was a lot of passion in the audience, but plenty of ideas were exchanged Tuesday as citizens gathered to talk about health care with U.S. Rep. Brian Baird.

During a 2-1/2-hour town hall at the Amphitheater at Clark County, some 38 people out of an estimated audience of more than 2,000 had a chance to question to the Vancouver Democrat.

The questions covered some other topics, including stimulus spending and the deficit, but most of them touched on health-care proposals working their way through the House and Senate.

And that covers a lot of ground. But Baird said he still don’t know how he’ll vote on the House bill. It’s still a work in progress, he said.

There was some support and some opposition for just about any concept under discussion.

But the biggest standing-ovation lines, from audience members who got a spot at the microphone, indicated which way the bigger share of the audience leaned.

• “I don’t know why I should trust our government.”

• “It seems Congress has been representing the president to the people, rather than the people to the president.”

Baird had said earlier this summer that he wouldn’t be holding any town halls on health care during the current congressional recess.

Baird cited disruptions at town halls in other parts of the country. He evoked images of Nazi Germany when he characterized people who incited that sort of disruption as using “close to Brownshirt tactics.”

During Tuesday’s session, Baird apologized for that statement.

“I made some statements I regret,” he said. Baird said his comments were directed at advocacy groups urging people to shut down discussion at town halls by shouting people down.

“This crowd isn’t doing that, and I’m grateful for that,” Baird said.

By the ground rules announced earlier, people who wished to ask questions wrote their names and cities on cards, and the moderator - Chancellor Hal Dengerink of Washington State University Vancouver - drew the cards.

More than 900 people filled out the cards, hoping for a chance to ask a question.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office provided security for the event, including checking people entering the amphitheater. Signs and banners were not permitted, and motorcycle helmets also were barred. Water bottles were allowed if the caps were removed.

Baird also took questions in a radio session Tuesday afternoon, appearing on talk show host Lars Larson’s broadcast on KXL radio in Portland.