You can honestly leave the gallery for this and get back in? (I figured it'd be hard to get a seat. Maybe my faith in the American people's interest in this is a little too strong.)
Yep. We went back and forth three times today and they were very considerate. Plenty of people did it this weekend.
I guess I just figured the galleries would be filled during this interesting political drama. I guess people are just too busy watching their soaps and Dancing with the Stars finale to care.
It was about half full last night and today, which is actually a lot. You're not going to attract tons of tourists to something like this in DC. Many people are traveling with children and having them sit in the gallery in almost total silence (this was pretty lax this weekend though, to the point where I think it bordered on being down right inappropriate but that's another story) is going to be a non-starter.
A few people brought their kids but they were slouched in their chairs, trying to sleep after a long day in a very, very hot city (it was the hottest weekend ever in DC, if I heard correctly. I know that they said Friday was the hottest day on record there. I get to say I survived it while fighting a cold, too
). Add on the fact that the gallery guards were warning people to stop sleeping, reading outside books/newspapers, etc. while the Senate was in recess and you ought to realize that a half full gallery is still impressive.
