by Alan Fram

WASHINGTON (AP)– House Democrats heard it all Saturday — words of inspiration from President Barack Obama and raucous chants of protests from demonstrators. And at times it was flat-out ugly, including some racial epithets aimed at Black members of Congress.

Most of the day's important work leading up to Sunday's historic vote on health care was being done behind closed doors.

But much else about the day was noisy, emotional and right out in the open. After more than a year debating the capstone of Obama's domestic agenda and just hours to go before the showdown vote, there was little holding back.

The tone was set outside the Capitol. Clogging the sidewalks and streets of Capitol Hill were at least hundreds — no official estimate was yet available — of loud, furious protesters, many of them tea party opponents of the health care overhaul.

Rallies outside the Capitol are typically orderly, with speeches and well-behaved crowds. Saturday's was different, with anger-fueled demonstrators surrounding members of Congress who walked by, yelling at them.

"Kill the bill," the largely middle-aged crowd shouted, surging toward lawmakers who crossed the street between their office buildings and the Capitol.

The motorcade that carried Obama to Capitol Hill to whip up support for the bill drove past crowds waving signs that read "Stop the spending" and "Get your hands out of my pocketbook and health care." Many booed and thrust their thumbs down as Obama rode by.

As police held demonstrators back to clear areas for lawmakers outside the Capitol Obama's speech, some protesters jeered and chanted at the officers, "You work for us."

Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., told a reporter that as he left the Cannon House Office Building with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights era, some among the crowd chanted "the N-word, the N-word, 15 times." Both Carson and Lewis are Black, and Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones also said that it occurred.

"It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis," said Carson, a large former police officer who said he wasn't frightened but worried about the 70-year-old Lewis, who is twice his age. "He said it reminded him of another time."

Kristie Greco, spokeswoman for Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said a protester spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who is Black and said police escorted the lawmakers into the Capitol. Cleaver's office said he would decline to press charges, but Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the U.S. Capitol Police said in an e-mail later: "We did not make any arrests today."

Clyburn, who led fellow Black students in integrating South Carolina's public facilities a half century ago, called the behavior "absolutely shocking."

"I heard people saying things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus," Clyburn told reporters.

Inside House office buildings, protesters made their views known by visiting lawmakers' offices and chanting at legislators walking by.

Among the demonstrators was Delane Stewart, 65, of Cookeville, Tenn., who had come with her husband, Jesse.

"You know what's coming next if this happens?" she said, referring to the health bill's passage. "They're going to come after gun control."

Retired businessman Randy Simpson, 67, of Seneca, S.C., also said the health bill was just a first step.

"My concerns are about the health care bill, and the direction it takes us is toward communism, quite frankly," he said.

At a daylong meeting of the House Rules Committee, members of both parties squeezed into a tiny hearing room traded accusations in a session that was often a shouting match.

"You all in the minority know what the American people think," Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., said loudly and mockingly at Republicans repeatedly saying the public overwhelmingly opposes Obama's health care bill.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said a tricky voting procedure Democrats had been contemplating "corrupts and prostitutes the system" and would "unleash a cultural war in this country."

Obama's Capitol Hill visit was the day's emotional peak for House Democrats as he sought to energize them to finally approve the legislation.

He conceded that it could be tough for some to vote for the bill, but predicted it would end up being politically smart because once it becomes law people will realize they like its provisions like curbs on insurance companies.

"It is in your hands," the president said in what Clyburn later called the best speech he'd ever heard Obama make. "It is time to pass health care reform for America, and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow."

Associated Press writers Charles Babington and Christine Simmons contributed to this report.

Weeks after the incident, community groups are continuing to gather in response to the alleged beating of 18-year-old Jordan Miles by three Pittsburgh police officers. Recently groups such as the Black Political Empowerment Project, NAACP and Community Empowerment Association have united to move forward with concrete steps to ensure incidents like this do not continue.

FAMILY TIES—Jordan Miles, right, attended the meeting with his mother and grandmother.

“This is hard work because there are so many obstacles to justice. The system is not in our favor. The police are given deep deference in the courts because the police have a very difficult job to do,” said B-PEP Chairman Tim Stevens. “I have not a piece of doubt the incident with Jordan Miles will be the spark that creates change.”

Promoter Don Patterson of Penn Hills could not believe his eyes while watching this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. As he watched members of the Pittsburgh Police march by in their dress blues, behind them were about 70 officers wearing Green T-shirts that read “3599” on the front, and, “We Support Our Three Brothers,” on the back.

HIGH VISIBILITY— Members of Pittsburgh’s Fraternal Order of Police take advantage of the country’s second largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade to show their support for three suspended officers who allegedly beat a CAPA High School student during an arrest in January.

The three brothers are officers Michael Saldutte, David Sisak and Richard Ewing, who allegedly beat CAPA High School senior Jordan Miles during a Jan. 12 arrest near his home. The 3599 refers to the unmarked car the plainclothes officers drove that night.

There is no DNA evidence saying he drove the car. The only evidence that he did came from the shooter and another passenger who changed his story. And the jury initially returned a not guilty verdict.

DREW PRITCHETT

Yet Drew Pritchett, 18 at the time, is going away for life plus 20-40 years for his part in the 2007 homicide of Terrance Monroe on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

“He didn’t do it. He was taken advantage of by the other boys who knew the system,” said his mother, Patricia Alexander. “He was in college, had no criminal history. Now he faces a life sentence, with no possibility of parole for a crime he did not commit.”