Dozens of people made their way to the Inn of Iberia on a Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of the Hands Off My Health Care bus that made a quick stop on its way to New Orleans.

It is not likely, however, any people who attended might have been swayed to a different opinion than the one with which they came.

The Hands Off My Health Care bus tour is sponsored by Patients First, a program of the Americans for Prosperity. Mary Ellen Burke, AFP’s state communication manager, said the group has steadily gained ground since it formed in 2003, but sharply increased its membership in the past two years. Its reason for being is to promote free markets and limited government, most things that deal with economic and fiscal issues.

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Burke said the group has more than 700,000 members nationwide and has established several state chapters, including one in Louisiana. But, she said there is no state representative in Louisiana yet and no local number to call.

The most crucial issue, according to the AFP, is the health care reform, thus its Hands Off My Health Care bus tour.

The tour is important to the people who oppose government-run health care, a subject that finds a large audience here. So, the bus stop here is sort of like preaching to the choir. It might raise awareness, but it is unlikely to change hearts and minds about the health care debate. Maybe its trek to New Orleans was fruitful, but there was nothing easily found on its Web site, www.americansforprosperity.org/national-site, indicating what happened and The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune didn’t have anything easily found in its news coverage at www.nola.com.

AFP and groups like it are trying to drum up support to combat the push for government-run health care, based on its cost and philosophy of what government should be empowered to do. The real power, however, is in how and by whom people are swayed ... and the effort by which they make their voices heard.

JEFF ZERINGUE

MANAGING EDITOR