I’m still getting emails, running Google searches, and tallying things up, but it looks right now like a reasonable low-end estimate for the number of North Carolinians participating in Tea Party protests so far this week is about 10,000. There are several more events scheduled for this weekend, and a few others later in the month.
The largest crowd appears to have been in Greensboro, where some 2,000 people congregated downtown to speak out against government growth, government debt, and tax increases. The News & Record covered the event, noting a trend that I?ve seen in other rallies attended or reported on ? a greater focus on electoral politics:
Joanne Wittenborn, an event organizer with Conservatives for Guilford
County, joined a few chants, but she said people should hit the polls
in November to make a real impact.?(We?re) letting people know
that they need to become active,? she said. ?Voting is the way that we
can really make a difference.?She said the group will talk with
candidates to try to gauge which ones are most conservative and then the
group will distribute voter guides after the May primary.
UPDATE: After getting in a few more reports from smaller NC cities, I’ll up the conservative count to 11,000 North Carolinians participating in Tea Parties this week. More to come.
