Big crowd gathers for liberal rally in Washington

[ProSense]

Big crowd gathers for liberal rally in Washington

By Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people rallied near the Lincoln Memorial in the U.S. capital on Saturday as liberal groups attempted to energize their base a month before pivotal congressional elections.

The rally, held under sunny skies, was billed as "One Nation Working Together" and followed a large rally by conservatives at the same site just over a month earlier.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor organization, urged the crowd to "promise that you'll make your voices heard, for good jobs and justice and education today and on Election Day."

Republicans are trying to regain control of Congress from President Barack Obama's Democrats in the November 2 congressional elections.

The rally was sponsored by unions, civil rights groups and liberal activists who have been struggling to get their messages heard during an election campaign in which media coverage has focused on voter anger over unemployment, a weak economy and government deficits.

Denise Gray-Felder, a spokeswoman for the organizers of the rally, estimated that 175,000 to 200,000 people attended.

more

[Bryn]

1. Beck's Rally was around 87,000 ... Correct?

175,000 to 200,000 sounds soooo good!!

[bigdarryl]

3. you have some like Cenk and Bill Press saying they were impressed with Becks rally

saying they think there were 300,000

[vaberella]

6. Fuckin' Cenk needs to take a bloody break and go some where to nap. n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

11. Agreed!

[Bryn]

9. Fox News, Republicans, Tea Potty people, Corporatists are known to lie

"However, a firm hired by CBS News to estimate the crowd put attendees at between 78,000 and 96,000." <-------Beck's Rally


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0830/Glenn-Beck-rally-attendance-calculating-how-many-really-showed-up


Was the Glenn Beck rally turnout really that impressive?

While the official Tea Party estimates of Saturday's rally attendance may range between a gajillion and the fafillion, the company CBS hired to give an estimate placed the turnout at a respectably large 87,000, larger than the official estimates of turnout last year's 9/12 rally but no where near the estimated 1.8 million that attended Obama's inauguration.


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/was_the_glenn_beck_rally_turno.html

[vaberella]

7. You are right. We got more twice to three times more than them.

Their breed is a very low count.

[FirstLight]

2. sooo what's the verdict on the numbers?

more than beck/palin's tea party event?


...what will be interesting is how this mobilizes people...this and the colbert/stewart event...

[bigdarryl]

4. what is the cobert/stewart event even going to address

[vaberella]

8. It's a back to sanity rally...so it's going ot do the same nation thing.

The title is a bit divisive, but will draw big numbers. I think it will be the numbers similar to Beck to be honest. This had a different feel of people going to it. This was average people. And most average people don't really watch Stewart. He has more the "college" and yuppy crowd of viewers. However, I should keep it open because Obama did promote them at his Virginia town hall.

[bigdarryl]

10. Is it more on the PROGRESSIVE side

[vaberella]

12. This rally is on the progressive side...or normal side.

I think everyone at this rally is progressive in a relative sense. In regards to Stewart...I think it's going to be a mixture of progressives, students, and people who watch them for a laugh. I wouldn't take their rally in the same level of seriousness as I take the One Nation Rally. I think overall everyone will see both rallies positively and definitely Dem leaning. But if looking independently----the One Nation Rally was really an America rally.

For instance you'll find more mainstream America at the One Nation, most average Blacks don't really tune into Stewart or Colbert----shoot most minorities and immigrants don't tune into those shows. So the One Nation rally brings in those people. And also I don't think Stewart has too much of a strong blue collar worker group--while the One Nation rally would have those people. I can't see coal miners watching Colbert or Stewart en masse...can you? So their rally might be large, not as large as this one and not as diverse as this one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. 200,000 seems about right