I arrived in Madison about 11:20 today. The first thing I saw while coming in on East Washington was a very large group of students (about 3 blocks worth) from East High walking down the sidewalk and the side of the road, in a fired-up but well-behaved group. They were being escorted by the police (the group was way too large to walk down the sidewalk, and was using the outside lane of the street as well). The students arrived on the square at about the same time that we did. There were thousands of people on the State St. Side of the capitol, and they kept coming in. I've heard estimates of over 10,000 people,(I just heard another report of over 15,000) and it wouldn't surprise me if there were that many. The crowd kept growing, and was filling the corner of the square and spilling down State St.
The crowds were very fired up, but well behaved (it was obvious there were a lot of teachers and other professionals in the crowd). The rally was fairly brief, and involved multiple representatives from unions speaking. I've included a few videos (taken with my cell phone camera and streamed live on the site earlier today). I will be uploading more pictures and video later today.
For those who have been curious -- I saw absolutely no sign of the guard on site -- and actually no more police presence than you would have thought likely. Also no incidents of violence or even grouchiness. I'd say that the spirit of the crowd has been worried, concerned, a little angry, but in remarkably good spirits. I'm at the moment tryinig to scour through other reports of what went on today.