Kristian Knutsen
Rotunda rotation
Today's image is titled "Rotunda rotation" and was photographed by Kristian Knutsen.
Yesterday's rally on the grounds of the Capitol over the ongoing impasse in the state budget deliberations was a spectacle of political theater not seen on the Square since the immigrants' rights rally back in April 2006. Several hundred activists supporting the Assembly Republican's vision of a budget were met by hundreds more mostly union activists from AFSCME and the SEIU supporting the Senate Democratic version of the budget, now behind schedule by one hundred-plus days.
There is a wealth of online reporting and commentary on yesterday's rallies from the perspective of participants and other observers. The latter includes items by Greg Bump for WisPolitics (here, here, and here), Mark Sadowski, Katjusa Cisar for Dane101, Jackson Clubb for Capital Newspapers, Nina Camic, and Gregory Humphrey (). Then there are the reports and commentary by conservative participants in and observers of the rally, including items by Christian Schneider, Fred Dooley, Ryan Ojibway, Brian Fraley, Lance Burri, Karen Carpenter, and Steve Eggleston (), many replete with abundant complaints about the full-contact political sloganeering on display yesterday.
On rally on a much smaller scale can be found nearly every day inside the Capitol Rotunda, where members of AFSCME and the TAA have been regularly picketing in support of the Democratic version of the budget passed in the Senate and supported by Gov. Jim Doyle. A half-dozen or so were back in action on Thursday morning, as seen in this photo, maintaining their presence as the hype over yesterday's dueling rallies dominates most state politics watchers' perspective.
This is the latest entry of Madison Snaps: photos of Madison-area events and locations. The Isthmus group photo pool is the primary source for Madison Snaps, which are published here with the permission of individual contributors. If you are interested in having your photo eligible for Madison Snaps, please respond to the posting on the Flickr group page, or send a message. There is no compensation for Madison Snaps photos, which are © to the respective photographers.
