ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Martin Mash (left) an aide for U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, listens to the Rev. John Kepley (front) talk Friday about his views on government health care. Other activists with the Tea Party Patriots and Americans for Prosperity at the meeting included (from left) Janet Cross, Richard Walters, Marietta Walters and Gail Godsey. About 40 people met at Webb's field office and at U.S. Sen. Mark Warner's field office as part of a "tea party" protest.

Frustration reigned.

And rained down -- on a poker-faced but attentive Drew Densmore, an outreach representative in Roanoke for U.S. Sen. Mark Warner.

About 40 people, including one group of 10 and another of 30, crammed separately Friday into the Virginia Democrat's regional office in downtown Roanoke as part of a Nationwide Tea Party protest against government-run health care.

The protesters also visited the Roanoke County office of U.S. Sen. Jim Webb.

Both contingents warned that health care proposals favored by the Obama administration and by many Democrats would eliminate patient choice, limit physicians' treatment decisions, create prolonged waits for services, increase taxes and health care costs and slide the country down a slope toward socialism.

Christy Bowles of Callaway and others acknowledged that the health care system needs reform. But she said the pendulum should not swing too far from the current system to one run by the government. And she said Congress should not move at breakneck speed to vote on an issue with potentially profound consequences.

"The answer lies in the middle, where the common-sense people are," Bowles said.

The Tea Party Patriots and Americans for Prosperity organized the Nationwide Tea Party protest day. Both describe themselves as grass-roots groups focused on limited government, free markets, entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint. The organizations cite concerns about government exceeding constitutional constraints and racking up record deficits.

People who visited the offices of Warner and Webb traveled from the counties of Roanoke, Bedford, Franklin and Botetourt, the cites of Roanoke and Salem and elsewhere.

Three of the 40 said they have no health insurance.

"I gave it up because it was too expensive," said Janet Cross of Rocky Mount. "I am a believer in personal responsibility."

Caleb Coulter, 23, a resident of Bedford County, said both principle and the cost of coverage led him to forego health insurance.

"I try to take care of my own body," Coulter said. "If something unforeseen should happen, I have savings."

Roanoke resident John Lawless, 52, also emphasized self-reliance and savings.

"I'm fortunate to be healthy," Lawless said.

The first group that visited Warner's Roanoke office frequently strayed from the health care debate.

Densmore feverishly scratched down a variety of comments from different speakers. Topics included homosexuality as "abomination," the nation's leaders beset by a "spiritual fog," the Tower of Babel and illegal immigration, terrorism, flag burnings, Muslims "chopping off people's heads and hands," a possible link between Hurricane Katrina and U.S. support for Israel's removal of settlers in Gaza, rumors that Obama has quietly turned for counsel to a group of highly educated Muslims and other wide-ranging subjects.

The Rev. John Kepley warned that America will be finished if the federal government continues to tax and spend and accumulate power. And he said Webb and Warner should be wary of an arrogance that seems to befall politicians, including George Allen, the Republican defeated by Webb, when they take up residence in Washington, D.C.

If the two senators puff up with pride and do not listen to constituents, a growing coalition of independents, Republicans and Democrats will ensure they serve but one term, Kepley said.

Later, Webb's office issued a statement: "Sen. Webb and our office appreciate the views of all constituents."

Warner's office followed suit: "Sen. Warner is always interested in hearing the views of Virginians on issues working their way through the Senate."