Thousands expected at Stewart-Colbert rally in DC

[October 30, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are appealing to thousands to rally with them in the nation's capital Saturday for a return to "sanity." Their fans just aren't certain what to expect.

Organizers insist the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall isn't about politics. Still, that hasn't dampened the hopes of supporters and advocacy groups seeking to rekindle some of the voter enthusiasm for Democrats seen in 2008, particularly among young adults.

A Pew Research Center poll last month found 41 percent of Stewart's fans identify themselves as Democrats, compared with 38 percent independents and 14 percent Republicans. His audience also tends to be younger than for many cable programs, a key segment since adults 18-29 are half as likely as those 30 and older to vote.

A preliminary list of entertainers included musicians Sheryl Crow and The Roots. Actor Sam Waterston and Don Novello, who years ago played Father Guido Sarducci on "Saturday Night Live," were also expected to appear.

The rally has generated extensive buzz on the Internet, with more than 226,000 people on a Facebook page created for the event saying they would attend. The liberal Huffington Post was sending a caravan of 10,000 people on 200 buses from New York, while Oprah Winfrey expressed her support by providing travel expenses to a "Daily Show" studio audience of about 200 members so that they could attend.

Comedy Central's park permit puts the crowd estimate at 60,000. There were plans for satellite rallies in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Honolulu.

On his website, Stewart describes the event as a place for people who think "shouting is annoying, counterproductive and terrible for your 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 mustache 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."

Organizing for America, President Barack Obama's political operation based at Democratic National Committee headquarters, is setting up a "Phone Bank for Sanity" after the rally to urge people to vote on Tuesday.

Groups planning to enlist supporters at the event include Naral Pro-Choice America; D.C. Vote, which aims to give D.C. a voting representative in the House; and backers of California's Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana.

"The vitriol and hatred toward our president and Democrats, it has become so extreme that it kind of scares me," said Margaret Espaillat, 49, of Orlando, Fla., who's hoping the rally will improve the political tone and galvanize Democrats. She planned to attend with her three sons who are in college and her husband, an Army colonel.

Saturday's event mirrors the "Restoring Honor" rally held in August by Glenn Beck, the Fox News commentator popular among conservatives and tea party supporters. Beck, too, played down his event as a political rally; Stewart has described his simply as an alternative format for the mock-news humor seen by millions of Comedy Central viewers each night on "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report."

On his radio show this week, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh mocked the Saturday event. He says it will give the tea party and other conservatives a chance to build voter turnout for Tuesday while Democrats go to Washington to "smoke some doobies" and listen to a "couple of half-baked comedians."

The rally is promoting charitable causes. Stewart is asking attendees to help restore the National Mall, which has a $400 million backlog of deferred maintenance. Colbert is asking people to contribute to Donors Choose, which raises money for school supplies; proceeds from sales of rally merchandise also will go to the Yellow Ribbon Fund to help injured soldiers.

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Online:

http://www.rallytorestoresanityandorfear.com/

[Associated Press; By HOPE YEN]

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