All is quiet and still in the dawn hours (I got a really good parking place).
Weather is 13 degrees fahrenheit and windy.  Will anyone come outside today?
 
 

I had a lot of fun walking amongst crowds like those above, giving away 200
pin-on name badges I printed the day before (below).

The cordoned-off capital building.  Another sign on the fence read:  "No Access".
I thought that was hilariously appropriate, but the guards didn't seem as amused
when I tried to point out the irony to them.
 
 

Here you can sort of see the masses of people packing the National Mall.
Estimates of the number of demonstrators ranged from 30,000 - 500,000.
My guess would be at least 200,000.
 
 

People line up for a march from the Capitol to the Naval yards.
 
 

Motorcycle cops had no idea what they were supposed to do (I heard them say so).
They settled on riding alongside the protest, making as much noise as possible by
revving their engines and honking horns, doing their best to drown out the marchers'
anti-war chants.
 
 

As we walked past military barracks, a woman in uniform stepped onto the
covered porch and took pictures of the protestors.  And I took pictures of her.
 
 

After we passed the barracks, Jesse Jackson appeared near the front of the march.
 
 

I was lucky enough to be near the front of the march.  As I walked ahead and stepped up
on the base of a utility pole, there was no end in sight to the sea of people behind me.
 

So don't let CNN tell you this was just a few thousand ornery hippies.
The real representatives of the American people were standing OUTSIDE the Capitol on this day!