The arguing on the political boards this A.M. mainly seems to be about the size of the turnout for yesterday's anti-Obama rally in Washington. A basic rule of such events is that those who believe in the cause of a public protest always wildly exaggerate its size, those who oppose the cause always underestimate it, reporters make wild guesses and the police and other non-partisan authorities usually get it right. But the accurate estimate gets generally ignored because it isn't of much use to anyone.
So today, you have the anti-Obama crowd claiming 1.5 to 2 million, you have the pro-Obama folks saying 20,000 to 30,000 and you have the D.C. fire department saying 60,000 to 70,000. Interestingly, you have the Washington Times (which is a right-wing paper) and the Washington Post (which has been turning into one) both saying, "tens of thousands." Super-statistician Nate Silver explains a little more about the wide disparity in claims…and seems to side with the fire department.