Federal Talapia Pond

[classicman]

Rally organizers, in applying for their permit, said they expected a crowd of up to 300,000. And on Sunday, after the rally, Beck himself said on Fox News that the event drew 300,000 people on the low end, and perhaps as many as 650,000 people on the high end.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota, at her own rally held on the edges of Mr. Beck's event, said, “We’re not going to let anyone get away with saying there were less than a million here today because we were witnesses.”

However, a firm hired by CBS News to estimate the crowd put attendees at between 78,000 and 96,000. The firm, AirPhotosLive.com, had three estimators go over high-resolution aerial photos of the event, and then combined the three estimates.