If Sunday is any indication, the massive anti-war protests that some predicted would engulf downtown Denver this week will be anything but. There won't be much rabble to rouse.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has clearly made the rapid drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq a priority. That's not soon enough for the demonstrators, who want the troops home now. But you'd think the protesters would be better served focusing their hostility on St. Paul, where Republicans will nominate Iraq war supporter John McCain next week.

That said, as late as Saturday, protest leaders from groups like the Re-create 68 Alliance were boasting that as many as 20,000 demonstrators would take to Denver's streets. They touted a Sunday morning march from the Capitol to the Pepsi Center as the headlining event.

The actual turnout for the march? Perhaps 200 to 300 at the Capitol rally, headlined by the usual suspects at these things, Ron Kovic of Born on the Fourth of July and, of course, Cindy Sheehan. For local color, there was the unavoidable Glenn Spagnuolo. By the time the march ended, 1,500 or so had assembled at Pepsi Center.

During the afternoon, some protesters briefly blocked the westbound lanes of Colfax near the park while others disrupted the 16th Street Mall shuttles. But they were soon dispersed (and a few arrested) by police.

Sunday could have been an anomaly. Perhaps thousands of disruptive demonstrators who had better things to do will materialize in the next few days.

We'll be happy if they don't - or at least that those who do will exercise their rights peacefully, so that delegates and the rest of us can enjoy the panoply of activities surrounding the convention.