Jon Stewart Rally a Magnet for Activists
Comedy Central entertainers Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert say their rally on the National Mall on Saturday is all about "restoring sanity and/or fear." A leaked schedule of the rally indicates the three-hour rally will largely be filled with performances from actors and musical acts.
"It's the same concept as the way the whole show works," John Oliver of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" told CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews Friday. "It's just another project like the show that we do four times a week or the book we just wrote."
A host of other organizers are flocking to the event, however, to promote their own causes -- everything from D.C. voting rights to marijuana law reform.
Washington, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton -- who represents the capitol in Congress but does not have a vote -- is attending the rally with the voting rights group D.C. Vote to advocate for their cause. Norton and the organization will hand out signs that read, "BE SANE. Let DC Vote."
Norton has appeared on Steven Colbert's "The Colbert Report" several times and has an ongoing "feud" with the comedian.
"We are doing more than showing the flag for D.C.," she said in a statement. "We will be demanding the vote, right in front of the man who has popularized ridiculing me, and by proxy, District residents for not having voting rights."
The delegate has even paired up with a local bar to promote D.C. voting rights with a drink called "Eleanor's Revenge."
The Drug Policy Action Committee, meanwhile, will be hosting its own gathering to "Restore Drug Policy Sanity." The organization is currently campaigning in support of California's Proposition 19, the ballot measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state.
Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of Drug Policy Action, said supporters of legalized pot "will march in business suits, not Birkenstocks... to reinforce the message that there is no archetypal marijuana legalization supporter," the Sacramento Bee reports.
A Facebook announcement for the event urges attendees to "wear nice clothes (suits, ties, etc.) to maximize impact."
The group is also running an ad -- financed with some of the $1 million donation the Prop. 19 campaign received from billionaire George Soros -- during "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report."
The left-leaning Faith in Public Life will also be at the Comedy Central rally with signs readings "People of Faith for Sanity."
The anti-corporate nonprofit group Public Citizen is asking its supporters to come up with their own clever signs. (Watch Public Citizen discuss the campaign on "Washington Unplugged.")
And while Public Citizen is using the rally to question corporate power, another group is using it to defend public power.
Govloop.com, a social network for government workers, organized an event at the rally to highlight the value of government institutions.
"A lot of people say that government sucks. Living in DC, you're in the eye of the storm," the event announcement reads. "With anti-government sentiments at record highs, we feel your pain. We know you don't suck, you know you don't suck, so let's let the world in on this little secret."
The organization will be handing out t-shirts and signs promoting the idea, "Government Doesn't Suck."
