A visit to the Wisconsin Capitol, before the doors are barred

I just left the Wisconsin state Capitol. It was 5:30 p.m. exactly when I walked out the door. A half hour later, no one who wasn't already here would be allowed to enter. There was a long line coming in -- two of them actually, leading to doors on either side of the building. The lines were long because the 3 p.m. rally at the top of State Street had just ended. It was unclear if people knew they were among the last ones who would be allowed in. The people in the line around me didn't know. But the sheriff's deputy at the door confirmed it.

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Inside the building, I spoke with several police officers and sheriffs deputies and a state game warden. Most of them knew enough to confirm that the building will be shut off to new visitors at 6 p.m. and cleared at 4 p.m. tomorrow for cleaning. Anyone already inside -- and there thousands of people, throughout the building, including a surprisingly large number of families with children -- can stay as long as they want tonight.

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He praised the protesters for how kind and well-behaved they've been, as have the officers I've spoken to over the last week and a half. Something remarkable has happened here: The protesters and the law enforcement officers who have been sent here from every corner of the state to keep them in line have come to like each other, to see each other as being on the same side.

I think that means -- I hope that means -- that the building will be sealed off peacefully tonight and will vacate peacefully tomorrow, leaving the building as clean as they can. And then, Monday morning, everybody can come back.