Yesterday's rally in DC was very positive. The speakers were excellent, the crowd was friendly and motivated. There were thousands there, much more than I had expected considering that it wasn't very well publicized.
At first I was disappointed when friends told me they weren't interested in the 10.2.10 rally but might consider the one on the 30th. I felt that the Jon Stewart rally was taking away from the one yesterday, but I've come to feel that this is actually a good thing, the two rallies are part of the same wave, and the medium sized showing yesterday might very well swell to a tsunami of people by the 30th.
There's no real way to gauge how many, but so far, 185,000+ have signed up on Stewart's facebook page saying they are definitely attending the rally, with 100,000 more saying they might attend. About 20 local friends have told me they're coming, and I've already pledged my guest room to two out of town friends.
The wave might get a fair amount of help from Arianna Huffington, who is offering free bus transportation from New York, promising that she will provide as many buses as there are people to fill them. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/sanity-bus-arianna-offers_n_742739.html>
On a smaller scale, an Oklahoma couple, Ron Honn and Vicke Adams, chartered a bus to go to the rally from Stillwater. They opened up the opportunity from other people in the area, and so far, 72 have signed up to go on the chartered bus(es) <http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=148841458486167&ref=search> .
This just might turn the tide of enthusiasm in time for the election. I just hope they remember to get home in time to vote!