The demonstrations hit their peak Saturday when an estimated 70,000 protesters converged on the Capitol, with pro-union activists facing off against a much smaller number of supporters of Gov. Scott Walker.

There were no clashes.

Pro-union activists and their supporters since Tuesday have filled the Capitol with chanting, drumbeats and anti-Walker slogans. On Saturday, Walker’s supporters came out in force for the first time.

Walker has proposed legislation he says is needed to bring government spending under control. It does so, in part, by requiring government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs while largely eliminating their collective bargaining rights.

The dispute is being watched carefully because if Walker prevails in Wisconsin, other conservative Republican governors may try to go after powerful public employee unions as part of their budget-cutting policies.

Defeating the Wisconsin bill and others like it is crucial for public-sector unions, an important part of the Democratic Party base. President Barack Obama and other Democrats will need the strong support of unions in the 2012 elections — especially in key swing states like Wisconsin — to counter a huge influx of corporate funds allowed under a Supreme Court decision last year.

Nearly every major union leader — both public and private sector — has united behind an ambitious $30 million plan to stop anti-labor measures in Wisconsin and at least 10 other states.

Saturday’s protest In Madison was marked by opposing chants: “Pass the bill! Pass the bill!” and “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!” The Wisconsin governor — elected in November’s Republican wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans — says that concessions from public employee unions are needed to deal with the state’s projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and to avoid layoffs of government workers.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said the crowds of demonstrators that have gotten bigger each day have yet to win over any member of his caucus.

“What they’re getting from individuals back home is stick to your guns, don’t let them get to you,” Fitzgerald said.

“Every senator I’ve spoken to today is getting that back home, which is awesome.” Fitzgerald said Republicans have the votes needed to pass the so-called “budget repair” bill without any changes just as soon as 14 Senate Democrats who fled the state on Thursday and remain in hiding return to the Statehouse.

Without them, there isn’t the required quorum to vote on legislation.

The missing Democrats have threatened to stay away for weeks and remain more resolved than ever to stay away “as long as it takes” until Walker agrees to negotiate, Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said Saturday.

“I don’t think he’s really thought it through, to be honest,” Erpenbach said.

Democrats offered again Saturday to agree to the parts of Walker’s proposal that would double workers’ health insurance contributions and require them to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary to their pensions, so long as workers retained their rights to negotiate with the state as a union.

Walker, who was spending time with his family Saturday and didn’t appear in public, also rejected the Democrats’ offer. He told Fox News on Sunday that the Senate Democrats need to come back to Wisconsin and do their jobs instead of hiding out to delay a vote.

Madison police estimated 60,000 or more people were outside the Capitol with up to 8,000 more inside.

Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said there were no arrests or problems during Saturday’s protests. “We’ve seen and shown the world that in Madison, Wisconsin, we can bring people together who disagree strongly on a bill in a peaceful way,” he said.

Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes covering public employees’ absences. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said.

“What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work,” Sanner said. “Employers don’t have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it’s as valid as every other work note that I’ve written for the last 30 years.”