Saturday, October 30, 2010

Rally to Restore Sanity Attendance

The exact numbers cannot be ascertained right now but there are several factors at work.

1. The rally has a permit for about 80,000, which should give an impression on how many were expected.
2. The Huffington Post offered to bring in dozens of buses containing maybe 1,000 additional people.
3. MTV urged its employees to attend.
4. Both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert gave free rides to their shows.
5. There are a number of "satellite" rallies across the country.

So the final estimate will probably be about 80,000-120,000.  Also, feel free to check out the rest of our election coverage.

From the CBC article on the rally:
On his website, Stewart describes the event as a place for people who think "shouting is annoying, counterproductive and terrible for our throat, who feel that the loudest voices shouldn't be the only ones that get heard, and who believe that the only time it's appropriate to draw a Hitler moustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler."
He and Colbert are also encouraging attendees to bring signs with slogans such as "Real patriots can handle a difference in opinion," "It could be worse but let's not make it that way," and "Death to Nobody."





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18 comments:

  1. Looked like a WHOLE lot of people if you ask me!!! Go Jon!

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  2. Are you crazy? The data you use to come to your final figures are way off. HuffPost announced that they brought in 10,000 people on their own.

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  3. I am walking away from the mall right now and your numbers are not even remotely close. Try 4 times that. It seems to me that there is no way it was less than 200,000. Maybe double that.

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  4. yeah, huff post had 200 buses- so unless their were just 5 people per bus, I'm pretty sure they brought in closer to 10,000, perhaps more

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  5. Actually, almost 250,000 RSVP-ed on Facebook, saying they would be there. And over 100,000 more said that they might go. Looking at the crowds on TV, it was clear that there were several hundred thousand there, packed in, filling up the longer side of the Mall completely. The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear clearly outdrew Beck's rally by a lot. Perhaps several times over.

    In comparison, Beck's rally was much less packed in, in the shorter side of the Mall (around the reflecting pool), and the independent experts who gave final figures on the event said that one was at about 87,000 people (a far cry from FOXNews's reports of over 300,000, which various other news reports have inexplicably since repeated).

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  6. the crowds were from 3rd st to the washington monument and then out to the side streets about five blocks. we left at 230pm and there were people still making their way towards the rally.

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  7. Are people actually referencing the HUFFINGTON POST as a non-biased, legitimate news-source? Two things: hahahahahahaha. And second, you all are going to have a sad night on Tuesday when the Democrats crash and burn.

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  8. thanks Phil! you are the devisive self-aggrandizing polarizing gem of a human being type that makes remaining Sane so F*king hard.

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  9. Bingo, hit a nerve. Looks like I was right on both points. Also, if my saying something as innocuous the HuffPo isn't a legit news source makes it "F*king hard" to stay sane, you've got a serious problem buddy.

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  10. I'm not your buddy, guy.

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  11. And what is it you think the Republicans are going to accomplish, Phil?

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  12. When did I say Republicans would accomplish anything? I just said you would be sad on Tuesday.

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  13. I never said you had said what they would accomplish, I asked what you think they will accomplish. My only assumption was that you had an opinion.

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  14. I saw most of it on Comedy Central; what a marvelous response to all the lunacy that the right has presented to us. I especially thought Jon Stewart's final speech was quite moving, and dead on. And of course, I loved the way Stephen Colbert skewers the right with SUCH accuracy....

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  15. Here's what going to happen: Like Democrats four years ago (and two years ago), Republicans will come to power declaring they have a mandate from the people. What they do will no matter because they will fall out of popularity eventually and Democrats will be elected again. Then Democrats will fall out of popularity and Republicans will be elected. Then Republicans will fall out of popularity and Democrats will be elected. The cycle will continue.

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  16. While I would NEVER presume to be able to predict the outcome of Tuesday's election, I will predict this with absolute certainty; if the Dems win, we can finally get something done. If the Reps win, all they will have accomplished is getting in the way.....again. I wouldn't even mind their winning if they only had SOMETHING of substance to offer, rather than the same old failed policies.

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  17. And Phil is a cynical old bastard.

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  18. Metro rail ridership data show 315,000 more trips taken on the Stewart/Colbert rally day than the Beck rally day.

    According to Metro, there were 825,437 on Stewart/Colbert day and 510,020 on Beck day. Average Saturday ridership is about 350,000 (both events were on a Saturday).

    If you exclude the average daily riders, and assume two trips per person (one there, one back), that yields 80,010 for Beck and 237,718 for Stewart/Colbert.

    This method corresponds to APL’s analysis of 87,000 for Beck and 215,000 for Stewart/Colbert. But don't let facts get in the way of ignorance.

    Kind regards

    http://www.wmata.com/rail/disruption_reports/viewPage_update.cfm?ReportID=1919
    http://wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=4717
    http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/metro-says-stewart-beat-beck-at-the-faregates-20101031

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