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Ok, here's the details.

We got our Senate passes via a friend, a son of a Senator. It turns out that when we went, Wed. eve, that was unnecessary: they had enough space to give out passes to people who were just out on the street.

We got there at 11:45 and left around 1 a.m.

We heard Sen. Boxer -- over and over again with the 98% -- and then we heard Sen. Chambliss' very funny retort: "My wife wouldn't accept a 98% faithfulness record. I wouldn't want my food 98% free of e coli. And I don't think a 98% compliance with the Constitution is something my friends on the other side of the aisle should be boasting about."

Both Sen. Chambliss and Sen. Lindsey Graham "grew up" together politically in the House, part of Gingrich's revolution. And they were both there when we were there, obviously enjoying each other's company. Joking, whispering, their staffs consulting.

Sen. Hutchinson of Texas was a sight to behold! In person, wearing a bright red jacket with gold jewelry, she was a prim and proper as ever! Perfect demeanor: rigid, at attention, carefully watching the Dems as they talked. Once the Dems tried to pass their minimum wage bill when Sen. Hutchinson was on watch and talking, and even though she was whispering to someone else on the floor she plainly heard it and interrupted her own whisper to turn and address the Senate President and list her objection. Seems like a very efficient person.

Hmm, what else is there to say? Ah, yes, I suppose the dreadful part will all the self-important staff and pages that cluster around the Senators of both parties. These kids scare me. They're really too young, if I may say so, to be taken seriously, and yet they take themselves so seriously . . . . Sen. Boxer and the other Dems were really big on charts, and so you'd see in person -- it doesn't show on CSPAN -- all these self-important pages rushing around preparing the next chart, and you could even see through the cloak room doors the pages hurriedly arranging charts in there. There was plainly a chart war going between the Dems and the Republicans. The Dems were playing to CSPAN.

I would definitely say the following: it was apparent to me from the hour and a half that we stayed that the Republican Senators were operating in a more team-like fashion. They were consulting and whispering and coordinating. There were about 4 Republican and 3 Senators actually on the floor. (You gotta figure the rest were standing by in their officies, monitoring on CSPAN or the like.) The Democrats didn't seem to be coordinating. Like Boxer once went and whispered something in the senior Senator from New York's ear, and he seemed annoyed she was bothering him.

I would add, for those who regret being there, that from our up-above gallery positions, we weren't far from the CSPAN camera monitors and I could see what the monitors were showing. So don't feel bad -- CSPAN did a good job of showing you what was actually going on on the floor. There were just 3 or 4 Senators of each party, but when they weren't talking, there wasn't much to look at except the speaker and their charts. And that's what CSPAN neutrally broadcast. So I have to say the experience of being there was similar to the experience of watching it later the next day on CSPAN.

We heard Sen. Boxer -- over and over again with the 98% -- and then we heard Sen. Chambliss' very funny retort: "My wife wouldn't accept a 98% faithfulness record. I wouldn't want my food 98% free of e coli. And I don't think a 98% compliance with the Constitution is something my friends on the other side of the aisle should be boasting about."

I was watching C-Span during this and think I heard you all laughing.
I'm very proud of our new senator's, Chambliss and Lindsey Graham. Knew they looked familiar but didn't know they were in the House together....should have.

Guess the one difference in being there and watching it on C-Span is the classical music they play during the vote. They played some intensive classical during this morning's vote, not sure what that meant. LOL

Thanks for the report, I had been curious about the experience. Ping me if you see a thread on it!