"Going over to see Hairy Scary or whatever it is they call him? You better hurry!"

That's what a street-type person said to me as I headed over to the big Kerry rally in Madison today. I describe the scene in some detail over on Instapundit. And I also put three of my photographs there. But here are some extra pictures for Althouse insiders. First, a little street theater:



This man was literally foaming at the mouth:



Did anyone drive in from Illinois for this? I think so:



People piled up in the houses on West Washington to get a good view:






I think Bruce Springsteen is somewhere in this shot. He was singing and I was holding the camera above the crowd:



Some pro-Bush guys were there, but no one bothered them and they didn't heckle:



Here's Kerry:




There was a good deal of solemn flag-bearing:



And just some boring waiting around:



Yeah, rallies don't thrill me either. A huge crowd. A big exhortation. That sort of thing produces no reaction in me. I suppose if the crowds got overenthused, I would find it a bit disturbing. But they didn't at all, so I just felt like an objective observer. My objective observation is that it's a good thing Americans don't get too excited by politicians.

UPDATE: Welcome Daily Kos readers! There sure are a lot of you. Sorry I'm not voting for your guy, but nearly everyone I know is. Nice photo there showing the full perspective on the crowd from a crane shot. I got an email, perhaps from a Kos reader, denouncing me for not posting that picture (calling me a Nazi, in fact). But I'm just posting my own pictures. It's damn hard to get perspective on a big crowd from the ground! Nice to get the beautiful Capitol building framed in the shot and everyone waving the signs simultaneously, but the notion that I'm slanting by not getting that shot is awfully distorted.