‘One Nation’ Rally: Liberal Media Concludes Size Doesn’t Matter (Beck Rally Crowd Much Bigger!)

Pajamas Media ^ | October 3, 2010 | Charlie Martin

[Kaslin]

Another exclusive Pajamas Media crowd estimate.

The widely publicized, heavily subsidized “One Nation” rally was Saturday in Washington, D.C. As has been openly admitted by the organizers, which included the AFL-CIO, the SEIU and Obama’s perpetual campaign organization Organizing for America, this rally was held in the same place and at basically the same time of the day as Glenn Beck’s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” rally, specifically to demonstrate the depth of support for the president’s program. The convention organizers had a number of advantages, perhaps the greatest being that the buses bringing in demonstrators were apparently subsidized by the rally organizers.

Some of the initial reports were very positive: the organizers estimated 175,000 to 200,000 attendees, according to Crooks and Liars‘ report of “preliminary satellite estimates … at about noon EST [sic].”

(Where do they get these satellite estimates? PJM has been completely unsuccessful finding satellite companies that can give us these sorts of pictures on demand; there isn’t a satellite passing over Washington, D.C., any time you want one.)

Comments from Left Field notes this “more than doubles the 87,000 attendees of Glenn Beck’s Restoring the Honor Rally,” using the CBS News estimate I discussed at length here in August (“You Can See November from the Washington Monument”).

Naturally, we were interested in the topic. Following various crowd estimates has become a running topic of interest at Pajamas Media, starting with my original crowd estimates that began with a “back of the envelope” calculation in a comment at Vodkapundit, followed by a more formal calculation here in PJM (“March on Washington: How Big Was the Crowd?“).

Since then, I’ve built up a fairly well described methodology: we use Google Earth to estimate the area of the crowd from whatever photographs are available, then multiple by several different constants depending on the crowd density. These estimates are taken from published Park Service standards going back at least to the Obama inaugural.

Since the “One Nation” rally was consciously positioned at exactly the same place as the “Restoring Honor” rally, we can compare with my original baseline very easily.

Here’s the crowd perimeter as I drew it with Google Earth:

That area was about 2.4 million square meters. Using the crowd density estimates, we finally arrived at these estimates for the Beck crowd:

Estimate	10 square feet per person	5 square feet per person	2.5 square feet per person
Maximum:	215,000 people		430,000	860,000
90 percent	200,000	400,000	800,000
75 percent		163,000	326,000	652,000
50 percent	108,000	216,000	432,000
CBS News Estimate	87,000	87,000	87,000
40 percent	86,000	172,000		344,000

The assumptions there correspond to the Park Service’s standard for a “dense crowd” of about 5 square feet per person, my estimate of the crowd densities observed in the photos (10 square feet per person), and estimates from people in the most densely packed parts of the crowd (2.5 square feet per person).

All things considered, I think the best estimate, finally, is that Beck attracted somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 people.

The Associated Press summed it up this way:

Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck’s rally. But Saturday’s crowds were less dense and didn’t reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck’s rally.

This is illustrated in these comparative photographs:

Click here for a photo from Saturday’s left-wing rally.

Click here for a photo from the Glenn Beck rally.

Compare and contrast as necessary — as the lawyers say: “the thing speaks for itself.”

It’s difficult to place the edges of the crowd from these photographs, simply because the crowd in that one overhead photo is so far down the picture. However, the grassy area around the Lincoln Memorial is roughly one tenth the area in the full map above. That means the “One Nation” crowd would have been roughly 22,000 to 85,000 people at most.

[Kaslin]

Remember when President Bush went to Camp David with the First Lady, he always had meetings with important dignitaries. He didn’t go there for another vacation like the lazy arrogant pos does

[TribalPrincess2U]

Is there a PROTECT OUR VOTE site? If not
there should be.

[plinyelder]

COMMUNIST RALLY 10/02 12:04 PM

BECK RALLY 8/28 12:00 PM

[SkyPilot]

Great research and post.

[SkyPilot]

Your photo from post #7 show just how minuscule the left wing "rally" was. They had to show sky to take up the frame.

This is a real rally. It was from the Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" gathering, October 4th, 1997.

I was at this rally. It filled up the entire Washington Mall, and beyond. For those not familiar, the mall width is massive, well beyond the edges of the reflecting pool behind the Lincoln Memorial.

This was a rally for Jesus Christ, and was perhaps one of the proudest moments in our nation's history.

At one point during the events, the speaker asked all the men gathered to put their faces to the ground, out of awe and respect for who God is.

We did - and the only sound for several minutes was the sound of birds singing.

It was amazing.

[TheThinker]

Numbers don’t matter to those who don’t believe in democracy and fair voting practices.

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

That was an airliner? Hmm.. I was hoping it was a bomber on a practice mission,, jus’ sayin’

[reefdiver]

Unless your little one is being compared to the strapper who is haulin off your ex. (as she laughs)

[politicalmerc]

The only “crowd count” I’m concerned about happens in November. B*tch about that when it happens.

[celmak]

ping

[ilovesarah2012]

It doesn’t matter how many people were at either rally. The only thing that matters is how many people get out and vote.

[itssme]

“Is there a PROTECT OUR VOTE site? If not, there should be.”

---

Contact your local Republican organization and they will be able to tell you how to be a poll watcher and/or an observer at the Board of Elections.

[Magrathea]

Your Google Earth Area estimate is in serious error.

Steps of Lincoln Mem. to WWII memorial is ~750 m.
or about 2500 ft.
The width of the crowd is about 360 m or 1180 ft.
The dimensions of the refl. pool is 2000 ft x 180 ft.

So the total area covered by the crowd is approx.
750 x 320 m = 240,000 m^2 or
2500 x 1000 = 2,500,000 ft^2
You posted 2.4 million sq meters, but then you used it like 2.4 million sq. ft.
Still if you give people 5 sq ft in a crowd and say it was 50 - 75% dense, you can get 250,000 to 375,000 people.

[Enchante]

Leftists are liars

Mediascum are leftists

ergo, Mediascum are liars

[Doogle]

.....even if paid.

[hal ogen]

If only the moonbat/asshat Lefties had turned off their cloaking devices... I am sure there were 8 or 9 billion of them there.

[GonzoGOP]

As I recall the best shot from Glenn’s rally was taken from the top of the Washington Monument. For some reason I haven’t seen one taken from that same vantage point. Can’t imagine why

You won't see it on the MSM. But it has been all over FR. Did you know there is grass all over the mall. You would never have known if from the Restoring Honor rally. But with the quaint little dem you could appreciate all the green space.

[Panzerlied]

“I wonder what their home environment looks like.........”

Just travel through any inner city neighborhood. You’ll get a pretty good idea.

[GOPJ]

bump

[UCANSEE2]

They got FREE TRANSPORTATION, FREE T-SHIRTS, FREE BOX LUNCHES, FREE SIGNS, and they cried WAAAWAAAWAAA all the way home.