U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy (D-Glens Falls) called me today, to let me know that his summer "vacation" has been well spent, with a lengthy series of "Congress on your corner" meetings with constituents. We had a bad connection, as Murphy was traveling around northern Saratoga County, but here is a few of his comments (we spoke mostly about health care):

How have the "Congress on your corners" been going?
"We’ve been having great events. People want to get out and talk about issues. It's enlightening for me to come out and talk to me about issues, it's good to hear peoples’ thoughts on things."

"The president is backpedaling a little on healthcare, have you change your views?"
"I thought we need more competition, it's going to be good for keeping prices down, I thought a public option could be helpful to doing that. I think the main thing that I spend most of my time talking about, is how do we increase efficiency to keep costs under control."

"How can we change the current system?"
"That’s where I’m really talking to people, to find out what’s not working, what do you see out there. What do you see that we can fix. People are more thoughtful, they want to know how they’re going to be impacted. I can assure everyone that the goal of reforming the system is to make everyone’s health care better."