I’m not sure what tone you intended to take since your overall query was legitimate. Again, I’m just a regular person like you. I don’t get paid for this blog, I’m not on any payroll for a lobbyist or conservative group or anything political. Nor was I a volunteer at the tax protest. I just attended and reported on what I saw. I’m a wife, mom, and engineering technical editor who goes to work every day just like you. And I blog social & political commentary on those things that matter to me most. Also, because I’m too chicken to hang glide and I don’t like doing arts and crafts.

Originally, this blog and accompanying website was for frugality issues and helpful money-saving tips, but has evolved over the past few months as I became more upset about the waste of money in Washington and the dismantling of our Constitution. In the spirit of Old World cafes, a lot of political discussion occurred in cafes back then, so we’re still adhering to the original philosophies of the site and blog. I hit the bleepin’ roof (ask my husband) when GW Bush signed TARP I. I was so angry over that and the outrageous amount of money (which has since become dwarfed), and I was a staunch supporter of his on many unpopular issues. But that outrageous first bailout bill Bush signed really enraged me. No accountability, no oversight, it was stupid and wasteful. So when people say, “Why are you so upset about Obama when Bush spent a lot?” they obviously assume that conservatives are OK with waste sometimes? Stupid assumption. No way… it makes my blood boil no matter the party affiliation – waste and frivolous spending are inexcusable from our elected servants. And that is why the tax protest tea parties were so important to so many people who feel the same way. To let Washington know that we’re now watching them and they need to change their ways or risk being voted out.

I earned a degree in English and formerly was a registered Democrat for many years. In some ways, I’m still considered moderate or liberal by my more conservative friends. But that’s just on isolated issues. I’m now a conservative, although I was liberal through my earlier years. I was very much into social service activities and helping those less fortunate become self-proficient, and still am. I currently help support three children in Africa, write to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a Girl Scout leader for 7 years, served on PTA, was a Sunday School teacher, make loans to KIVA organizations in third-world countries, worked with the impoverished Yaqui Indian community here, and a lot of other volunteer activities. Never was much into politics, though. Until now.

I love my country, but I think I took America for granted for too long, just like most people. I’m trying to make up for that now. Especially since the trillion-dollar-bills will plunge us into more debt than we have ever been in; that scares the crap out of me. And it should everyone.

Anyway, your statement “it shouldn’t be any problem for you” sounds kinda cool, like you think perhaps I’m important in some way with political machinery or tax protest. Nope. Well, I am important, but only to my husband and kids. Sorry to let you down.

I plan to keep up on this tax protest attendance information as it continues to unfold.

I’d love to know more about you whenever you have a few minutes to divulge.

The total US number you’re quoting from Malkin/Pajama TV is old. This information below was posted on PJTV about two hours ago; note the guesstimation of 800k to 1 million in Paragraph 2 and the url for the not-finalized PDF of attendees:

Pajamas TV has been tabulating attendance data for the tax day tea parties since they began. By the evening of Thursday, April 16 that number had reached 541,568. The latest numbers are available at http://www.pjtv.com along with breakouts of the top events, top states, and a map view (http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=map) of attendance by state. A PDF file detailing tea party attendance by location is available at http://tinyurl.com/teapartyattendance.

The numbers are based on 40 percent or 350 of the 879 events registered in the PJTV database. The numbers came to Pajamas TV directly from the field and include accounts from organizers, police, and citizen reporters. “The top 40 events represent about 257,000 attendees and our last 20 reports average about 1,000 per event. It’s highly possible that the total attendance number is between 800,000 and 1 million,” Simon noted.

Sources that say the numbers “are not even breaking 100,000″ are laughably ludicrous. I was at the Phoenix rally, and while the numbers from different sources vary, 8,000 to 10,000 for total Phoenix attendance are being repeated the most, but I don’t think the numbers have yet solidified. One liberal AZ source that I read on Wednesday night said there were only a “few hundred” total at the Phoenix rally. No way. You can see that’s nonsense from the news coverage, aerial video, and available photos. Either that person counted just the early birds before the rally began or flat out lied.

I did an informal head count two hours before the rally began and it was about 500-600 at that time. By rally time, the amount of people had exploded into the thousands. You couldn’t even see the grass. A half hour into the rally, my sister had to stand in line for the bathroom. There were more than 60 people in line to use the four johns there. People had to park 1/2 – 1 mile away. I sat on a bench away from the huge crowd and counted newly arriving people from one intersection across the street from the capitol building. There were about 30-50 people a minute (that was at about 6 pm) crossing the street there (and there were two other intersections that I couldn’t observe). I believe there were 18 rallies in the state of Arizona, with Phoenix and Tucson being the largest. So, for just our one state, I believe 25,000 to 30,000 in total attendance is indeed likely. Atlanta had the most nationwide. The last I had read they had 50,000 estimated, but that was yesterday. There were huge turnouts in Texas and California, yada yada.

The criteria for totals aren’t going to be consistent, although I’m confident that efforts will be made to try to make them as consistent as possible. People at my rally were arriving as late as 7 pm. Some folks were leaving because it was getting cold. Do you do a “freeze-frame” count at one precise time or a count every half hour and then average the number of people? Haven’t a clue.

All the numbers are still coming in, so no definitive grand total is at hand. I have absolutely no idea what liberal lobbyist would have been in agreement to be in charge of counting for this grassroots effort. And frankly, since we all have seen recent “funky math” with the DNC and them photocopying signatures to count the same one three times, I’m leery of how they would be “creative” for an event that obviously is not liberal. Do you have a suggestion as to a non-right wing, non-conservative lobbyist source that you believe would do this for free next year and that you would find to be reputable and honest? If so, I would love to send that info to the folks here in AZ that worked behind the scenes at the Phoenix protest. A company that is nonpartisan and would do this for free, or for donations (not tax money, obviously) would be ideal. But I was just one of the thousands of people in the crowd and I’m a hobbyist blogger, so I have absolutely no influence nor do I have “my hand on the pulse” of the national numbers. No one has those yet.

Remember, this nationwide event was not “headed” by anyone. Yes, different organizations and radio stations helped promote it and lent a hand, but most, if not all, were pretty much organized by regular volunteer folks with no lobbying background nor “tea party” experience. So, for small communities in AZ or other states that had only 1,000 or so in attendance, they may not yet have finalized their numbers and submitted them. I’m sure the methods of submittal will be improved upon in the future, but for now, we need to understand the logical reasons for the delays and likely clumsiness. No tickets were sold, no RSVP’s were issued, no sign-in sheet was used. So the numbers are there, just more time consuming to extrapolate. We had police helicopters overhead, and I believe they may have been used to count the crowd at different intervals. Small communities would not have that resource.

Good question. The numbers are looking strong based on what I’ve read today, but next week (or the week thereafter) will be less guesstimation than it is today. Remember, the tea parties were held just two days ago. So we’ll all need to be patient.