U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, the focus of tumultuous reaction at a town hall meeting Thursday night, said in an interview this morning that the event has strengthened her conviction to support health care reform.

"It has strengthened my resolve to stand up for families and seniors," Castor said. "Floridians are bearing a great burden in health care costs, more than almost any other state."

"A healthy debate is good, but the rude behavior is not helpful," she said. "I think it backfires. The response we're receiving today is pretty overwhelming to speak up for families and bring down the cost of health care."

Castor said her office is receiving "hundreds" of calls and e-mails in support of her stand.

Asked about whether she considers the protests at the event Thursday night to be a genuine expression of grassroots opposition or, as some Democrats have charged, manufactured by opponents, Castor didn't respond directly.

"Anyone's welcome to attend a community event, and I welcome a healthy debate," she said.

Prior to the event Thursday, she had told reporters she considered some of the protests erupting at town hall forums on the topic to be genuine and some to be the result of political organizing inspired by health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Castor said broadcast commentators Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck had both mentioned the Tampa event on their shows, urging listeners or viewers to attend.

Castor also said she's sure the reform bill will pass: "We're going to fight through the naysayers [and pass the bill], and it will not add to the deficit."

Political groups on both sides also recruited members to attend.

Opponents included the 9-12 Project, the Free Republic Web site and the Hillsborough County Republican Party, Proponents included unions involved in sponsoring the event and Organizing for America, a liberal organizing group that grew out of the Barack Obama presidential campaign.

Advocates on both sides said they urged their members to behave respectfully at the meeting.

"Be courteous while anyone is speaking, including Castor. We don't want to sound like an 'angry mob,' " advised the Web site of the Tampa chapter of the 9-12 Project, a meetup group founded under the influence of Beck, a television and radio host.

Debbie Cox-Roush, county GOP chairman, sent out an e-mail to members urging them to attend and offering talking points and arguments against the health care proposal.

"I call on each of you to be respectful; do not engage in petty antics," she added. She also urged them to bring cameras and video cameras.

But some opponents of the health care reform proposal have urged their members to disrupt the meetings.

"You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation," said one e-mail memo from a Connecticut activist and member of the Tea Party Patriots organization. "Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early."

In some cases, pro-health care reform groups are responding by urging their supporters to fight back.

Health Care for American Now, a national pro-health care reform group, advised its members in a memo, "Arrive earlier than the other side," "Be more visible than the other side" and "Stack our folks in the front to create a wall around the member [of Congress holding the event]."

At the Tampa event, opponents complained that organizers allowed their sympathizers into the hall earlier, while others were still waiting outside for the doors to open.

"They're shutting out their real constituents, trying to create a false air of support," said Jessica Lane, a Land O' Lakes homemaker who entered the hall early, she said, by pretending to be a supporter.

State Rep. Betty Reed, D-Tampa, who originated the idea for the meeting and organized it with the help of the unions and Organizing for America, denied that. She acknowledged that some supporters were in the hall earlier than the time it opened and filled the first couple of rows of seats, but said they were only those helping set up the meeting.

Reed clearly was taken aback by the results, saying she was "shocked" by the number of people who turned out and their reaction.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa plans a telephone town hall meeting Aug. 13 on the issue, and several other Florida Congress members will do the same.

The conservative political group FreedomWorks, which has urged its members to attend the town hall meetings, has a national list of upcoming events on its Web site, but none are in Florida.

As the national debate over health care reform becomes incandescent, members of Congress may be backing off from holding town hall discussions on the issue after several have dissolved into mayhem.

Castor, like some other members of Congress, said she planned a telephone event because she can reach more people that way.

Reps. Adam Putnam of Bartow, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Weston and Ron Klein of Boca Raton all plan to hold telephone town halls on the issue, according to their staff.

According to news reports, of the eight House members representing Central Florida, only Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, is still planning a meeting on the issue, and he hasn't announced the date. Neither of Florida's senators plans a meeting.

Thursday's meeting, at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County in Ybor City, closed its doors under orders from the fire marshal, the board said today in a news release.

The meeting dissolved into shouting, shoving and fighting outside and inside as Castor's comments were drowned out by the crowd.

"Unfortunately, a series of unforeseen events led to a larger-than-expected crowd which became animated to the point where the safety of others in attendance became an issue," said a news release from the Children's Board. "The meeting space was at full capacity, and the fire marshal deemed that no one else – citizens or members of the media – would be allowed to enter the facility."

Castor tried to speak for nearly 15 minutes but the crowd drowned her out, chanting, "You work for us,'' "Tyranny, tyranny,'' and "Read the bill." She left the meeting early, further angering some attendees.

"Obviously, we're upset about last night's series of events," Luanne Panacek, the Children's Board chief executive officer, said in the news release. "At the same time though, it's great to know that so many people care so strongly about an issue and that the Children's Board can provide a forum for citizens to voice their concerns."

The problems began when a crowd of around 500, many of them recruited to attend by interest groups both for and against the proposal, sought to enter the meeting room. The room, in the board's offices on East Palm Avenue, has a capacity of only about 250.Several hundred people, mostly opponents, wound up outside or packing a hallway leading into the meeting room. Some scuffled with members of the sponsoring groups who manned the doorway.

Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said the department was told a couple hundred people would show up and sent a squad of 10 to 15 officers, two marked cars, two supervisors and some undercover officers.

As the crowd grew, more were brought in – mainly for traffic control, she said, but they also broke up some scuffles. She said no arrests were made.

One man who said he was injured and intended to file a police complaint, Randy Arthur of Oldsmar, was outside the meeting room with his wife, Kathy Arthur, when organizers tried to close the doors.

She said he was slammed against a wall. He later talked to police officers, his knit shirt ripped and a few scratches visible on his chest.

Among the crowd outside, opponents and a smaller number of proponents got into occasional shouting matches.

After trying to speak, Castor left at about 6:40 p.m., taking jeers as she left.

"They're hiding from their constituents. She works for us and needs to listen,'' said Karen Jaroch, a Tampa homemaker and organizer for the 9-12 Project.

Castor spokeswoman Ellen Gedalius said Castor left because her part of the event was finished.

"We said all along our role was to come and give an update on the bill in Congress,'' Gedalius said, noting that Reed, not Castor, organized and sponsored the meeting. "That's what Betty Reed asked us to do … and that's what we did.''

But Reed said afterward that she encouraged Castor to leave because, "She couldn't get a word through."

After doors to the meeting room closed, some of those outside crowded around the windows of the meeting room, where they held up signs and chanted.

In the last week or so, similar disruptive protests have erupted at town hall meetings in several states.

Democrats, including White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, have said the disruptions were organized attacks aimed at Democrats by conservative, anti-health care reform interest groups. Several protestors at Thursday's meeting in Tampa angrily rejected that contention.

Castor's staff said Reed planned the meeting and invited Castor before the controversy became so heated.

Reed said she set up the meeting because, "I represent a number of people who ask questions about what's going on with health care, so I thought it would be good to put on a meeting and have the congresswoman come in and give an update."

Reed said she was shocked by the number of people who turned out and some of their reactions.

"When you get to the point of possible violence, you've gone over the edge," she said.

In a news conference prior to the town hall, Castor had said, "I do expect some rabble-rousing."

She said the protesters who have been appearing at town hall forums on health care "would have been protesting Medicare. … They would never have accepted Social Security."