So Just How Big Was the Sanity Rally?

Bigger than Glenn Beck's rally ... maybe
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Suggested by Aarontco
Posted Oct 31, 2010 1:59 PM CDT

The question on everyone’s mind today: Just how many people attended yesterday’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear? Some estimates:

  • At the rally, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters estimated the crowd at 150,000, according to Talking Points Memo.
  • An MTV spokesperson told the Washington City Paper more than 250,000 were in attendance, while Viacom (parent company to both MTV and Comedy Central) told the New York Times the Parks Service gave a private estimate of “well over 200,000.”

  • The Hill points out that before 3pm, more than 350,000 had already ridden on DC’s public transportation system—typically, that’s the number for an entire Saturday.
  • CBS News used the same group they used to estimate the size of Glenn Beck’s rally, and that group came up with 215,000.
  • Stewart jokingly put the number at 10 million, while Colbert went even further with his estimate of 6 billion.
So was it really larger than the crowd Glenn Beck drew? Click here to see his rally estimates, or if you'd rather take a look at some of the funniest rally signs from yesterday, click here. (More Jon Stewart rally stories.)

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