New Hampshire has been a crossroads for many a campaign. Obama's town hall in Portsmouth, NH, today, may prove to be just such a watershed moment in the fight to reform health care (transcript here).

Portsmouth native Lori Hitchcock introduced the president. A single, self-employed mother, Hitchcock has been denied coverage because a preexisting medical condition. Her plight, and that of 12.6 million other Americans, is the subject of a new report, Coverage Denied, released today on HealthReform.Gov.

It's a story familiar to Obama from the letters he reads each day, and one which helped frame the narrative of the day's discussion. "Change is hard," the president noted, "And it doesn't start in Washington, it starts in places like Portsmouth, with people like Lori." The audience responded with chants of "Yes We Can."

The president was crisp and confident as he explained the failings of the current system while extolling the benefits of reform for all Americans. He emphasized health reform's role in laying a new foundation for economic prosperity and focused on the consumer protections that reform will guarantee all Americans -- things like ending discrimination based on preexisting conditions, and limiting individual's out-of-pocket expenditures.

"Right now we have a health insurance system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people," he said.

Obama connected the issue personally, telling the story of his mother's struggles with her insurance company while battling the cancer that would claim her life. He answered questions on a variety of issues from supplemental coverage in Medicare, to the public plan, to improving mental health benefits.

On the issue of bipartisanship, the president commended Republican Senators Enzi, Grassley and Snowe for their work in the Senate Finance Committee to try to forge a bipartisan compromise. "My hope is to do it in a bipartisan fashion," Obama said, "but the most important thing is getting it done."

That hope is not shared by conservative groups like the National Tax Limitation Committee or the American Liberty Alliance, which they made clear on a conference call today: "The goal is not compromise, and ANY bill coming out this year would be a failure for us." (Hat tip: Glenn Thrush, via Greg Sargent).

Obama addressed head on the myths and misinformation that has become the calling card of enemies of reform. He dismantled rumors of so-called "death panels" noting that the provision in the House Bill, which reimburses providers for counseling patients who voluntarily want more information about treatment options for advanced illness, was originally championed by Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. (In an excellent interview with The Washington Post's Ezra Klein, today, Isakson bravely calls such interpretations of the provision, "nuts"). Read more on the White House's efforts to combat these rumors here.

Overall, the discussion was filled with the kind of thoughtful questions and reasoned discussion often lacking at other town halls this August recess. That's a shame, because as the president says, "when we talk with each other, and not over each other," it's easy to see just how much we agree on health reform.