CBS News hired experts to help it estimate that the crowd at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally this weekend was roughly 87,000 strong. An impressive number to be sure.
Beck told the crowd he heard it was "between 300,000 and 500,000." And Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking soon after the Beck rally at her own impromptu event nearby, said: "We're not going to let anyone get away with saying there were less than a million here today -- because we were witnesses."
A little bit of healthy exaggeration is fine, as is passing on information to the crowd which, from the stage, must have looked massive and undeterminable in number. But these assertions by Beck and Bachmann are probably worthy of quick note just so we can see if the stand by them in the next few days. After all, these are two people who have never let pesky things like "facts" and "reality" get in the way of what they said in the past.
Check out the more than 300 pictures PFAW Foundation staff and volunteers snapped at this weekend's rallies on Flickr.