WASHINGTON (March 21) -- Night had fallen, but the lights burned bright inside the Capitol and within the hearts of a few dozen die-hards like Paul Calandro, who held the corner of a huge American flag rolled out for all of Congress to see.

"I'm not leaving until we find we have victory," said Calandro, 55, of Northern Cambria, Pa., who spent the perfect spring weekend marching and rallying with other Tea Party activists against the health care bill. "This is down to the last call."

As the last floor speeches were given and the minutes ticked down to the pivotal votes more than a year in the making, protesters vowed to take their battle from the legislative arena to the ballot box. Even after a bloc of anti-abortion Democrats gave the bill the votes needed to pass, the demonstrators didn't give up. "Vote No, Stupak! Take our country back!" they yelled. And as the vote was being held, they yelled "No! No! No!"

"We're letting them know that we're paying attention to what they're doing, that we're going to take our country back," said Sally Baptist, a "middle-aged" information technology worker from Orlando who held a sign reading: "Obamacare Destroys Our Constitution."

"In 2010, the next election is going to be a very big deal. We are tired of the games they are playing with our public policy," she said. "They're going to bankrupt us doing this stuff. We've got to get our house in order."

Kevin Connolly, a retiree from River Edge, N.J., was undeterred, convinced lawmakers would heed his sign: "S.O.S.: Start Over Stupid."

"This is not a sprint," he said. "We're going to be in this for a long time."

For most of the day, protesters lined up outside to provide a loud soundtrack to proceedings inside the House chamber. At mid-day, Republicans took turns on a balcony, egging on the crowd Evita style. Even Democrats got in the act, including Barney Frank, who told reporters he was pelted with anti-gay slurs for the second day in a row.

Perhaps the day's oddest couple waving to the crowd was Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican, and Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. Bachmann, a Tea Party darling, got a raucous welcome while Jackson Lee got "the third finger" from someone in the crowd. The rude gesture to the black lawmaker followed racial epithets by protesters that House Minority Leader John Boehner called "reprehensible."

"They have every right to be here and express their viewpoint," said Jackson Lee, who gave the V for victory sign in return. "We have every right to make a decision to save lives."

Later, when asked what it was like to stand with the Texas congresswoman, Bachmann smiled, "It's always exciting to be near Sheila Jackson Lee," adding that she didn't know if the crowd knew who she was.

Calandro echoed other protesters who called the alleged slurs "lies" and blamed Democratic infiltrators for starting trouble. "Don't believe it," said the retired New York City cop. "I'm telling you. These are all family people here. Not one of those 'demonstration' crowds, and I've worked them all."

Not so, said Marissa Brogger, one of two dozen counter-protesters -- mostly college students on spring break -- who waded into the crowd after sunset. The 19-year-old Georgetown University student, who held up a blue "For Health Reform" sign, said demonstrators had called her a "whore" and one man yelled that "he would buy me a beer but not an abortion."

As the two sides jockeyed in front of a video camera -- each side trying to out-chant the other with renditions of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and "Yes We Can!" while bill opponents clanged cow bells and blew whistles -- Brogger said, "It's saddening that these are the representatives for the other side. They're so extreme and offensive."

James Stark, 18, a student from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point here for spring break, talked over a chant of "Kill the Bill" as police kept a close eye to make sure no physical contact was made between the sides.

"They don't really seem to care about others. It's important that everybody get health care," he said. "As you can see right here, everybody's blocking us right here with their signs and that's not respect. They know they're going to lose. They have no other way but drowning us out."

But Baptist saw it another way. "Obama supporters are trying to stir up trouble," she said. Then, pointing to the lawn below the House chamber, she said, "Look. People have not trashed this, not like at the inauguration."