10:15 a.m. - Lines outside the gates at Stadium Boulevard and Main Street are now gone.

10 a.m. - Crowd control officials are shepherding people to Gate 2, near the southeast corner of the stadium, where lines are shorter.

Several people with signs calling protesting "Jewish supremacy in Palestine" are interspersed on South Main Street outside the stadium with a few people carrying "Bring the Troops Home" signs.

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9:40 a.m. - Lines to get in the stadium are very long. Tim Marshall of Grand Rapids said it took him 45 minutes to clear security. The lines appear to be moving steadily, but thousands of people are still waiting to get in.

People waiting at a gate near Stadium Boulevard and South Main Street said they have been waiting in line about an hour. Further to the east on Stadium, the line was shorter and people near the security entrance said they had only been waiting about 20 minutes.

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9:30 a.m. - Observers from the American Civil Liberties Union are watching to make sure no one's First Amendment rights are violated, said Bob Davidow. Sporting chartreause "ACLU Legal Observer" shirts, they have scattered about the area around the stadium.

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9:10 a.m. - Ed Mahony of Ann Arbor is a one-man protest as he walks up and down South Main Street outside the stadium carrying a sign calling for an end to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

'I don't know why there aren't more protesters," he said. "There's a lot of apathy out there. "For a war that we don't want it doesn't matter who started it. It's got to stop."

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8:50 a.m. - About 60 protesters with Citizens for a Pro-life Society based in South Lyon are in the middle of South Main Street north of Stadium Boulevard and along the sidewalk. They were hoping to have a group of more than 200 but said rain kept some people away. They are carrying large signs with pictures representing aborted fetuses.

Monica Migliorino Miller said she was arrested for trespassing last year when Obama spoke at the Notre Dame commencement. Today, the group is being careful to stay off university property, she said.

"Obama sadly supports the law that allows human beings to be murdered and thrown into the trash," The said. His appearance today is an opportunity to "show tens of thousands of people what abortion really is," she said.

Police said protesters have posed no problems this morning and are following all the rules.

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8:40 a.m. - About a dozen Tea Party members are protesting at the southwest corner of Stadium Boulevard and Main Street. They had originally hoped to line Ann Arbor-Saline Road Road from Scio Church to Pauline, but are grouped on the corner.

Tim Anthony, a bus driver from Westland, arrived about 7 a.m. carrying a "Don't-tread-on-me" flag. He said weather kept protesters' numbers low. But "it's still early," he said. He said he's tired of taxes and worried about the stimulus package, health care, cap and trade policies and immigration.

"I'm here to protest President Obama's policies pure and simple. We're the silent majority."

He said Tea Party members have been treated disrespectfully, called unpatriotic and even are labeled Nazis. "How much can we take," he said.

A massive breakfast spread awaits graduates at a holding area at Elbel Field, near Michigan Stadium. One of the highlights: a huge tub of Diet Coke cans. Apparently college graduates need caffeine to stay awake at 6 a.m.

8:10 a.m. - A long line now stretches from a gate on the north end of the stadium. It stretches along Keech Street, across Main Street and doubles back on itself. Lines at the south end of the stadium are much shorter.

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7:50 a.m. - Officials have used City of Ann Arbor trucks, as well as police cars and barricades to block off Main Street and side streets in the area of the stadium.

Police from Northfield Township, Pittsfield Township, Eastern Michigan University and state police are assisting Ann Arbor and University of Michigan police with security. Army soldiers are also on streets around the stadium.

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7:25 a.m. - Protesters began to arrive and include a group of anti-abortion demonstrators outside Michigan Stadium.

The gates of the stadium are open. Lines are steady but not too long. Everyone must be inside by 9 a.m.

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6: 20 a.m. - For University of Michigan students who volunteered in Barack Obama's campaign, the president's commencement address is like returning a political favor.

Albeit in outside proportions.

Miami native Adrian Madriz, who is graduating today with a degree in political science and film studies, volunteered for Obama's campaign in four states.

He said he was initially disappointed Obama didn't campaign at U-M - but this makes up for it. He was one of the first students to arrive this morning at a graduate holding area at Elbel Field near Michigan Stadium.

Madriz said he's just thrilled to see Obama speak, though he wouldn't mind hearing about a few key issues. "It would be great if he could say a few words on his proposals for Wall Street reform, and ending the war in Iraq and 'don't ask, don't tell.' That's a big issue I care about," Madriz said.

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6 a.m.: Graduates who are casually munching breakfast and chatting with friends don't seem to be overly concerned about the weather. "I'll sit through it no matter what as long as it doesn't thunder and lightning," said Eric Vander Weele, a computer science engineering master's grad who was checking the radar on his iPhone as thunder rumbled in the distance.

The rain may have other implications as well. For example, how do graduate gowns react to being soaked in rain? "On the label, it says do not get wet or do not wash," joked Kevin Drumm, who is graduating with a bachelor's degree in engineering.

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5:50 a.m.: Graduates have began making their way into the stadium from Elbel Field. Each graduate is passing through a tent with three photographers getting pictures taken.
One of the pictures is with a cardboard cutout of President Barack Obama with university buildings on a backdrop.

As graduates make their way to the stadium, they're walking past numerous security details. Anti-abortion protesters with pictures of aborted fetuses are along the route. Light rain continues to fall.

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While thousands of commencement visitors streamed down Main Street to find their cars, just as many were lined up on the east side of Keech Avenue waiting for the shuttle buses to take them back to their hotels. Volunteers wearing yellow shirts held color-coded signs while crowds stood seven or eight-deep along the street. Police officers repeatedly tried to clear the street of pedestrians to allow large blue U-M buses through.