Just the co-chairs, Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison, for now. The rest of the caucus is going to hang back awhile, as many Republicans did when the tea party first got going, to see whether (a) this thing has legs and (b) it’s sufficiently well behaved that they can try to coopt it without too much political fallout.

“We have been inspired by the growing grassroots movements on Wall Street and across the country. We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the enormous toll that an unchecked Wall Street has taken on the overwhelming majority of Americans while benefitting the super wealthy. We join the calls for corporate accountability and expanded middle-class opportunity.

“Throughout the summer, CPC Members listened to Americans nationwide describe how it feels to be on the wrong side of the wall between the rich and the rest of us. During the Speakout for Good Jobs Now! tour in New York City, Detroit, Milwaukee, Oakland, Minneapolis, Miami and Seattle, we heard compelling stories of Americans struggling to live the American dream while CEO’s and the super rich were given more taxpayer handouts.

“We stand with the American people as they demand corporate accountability and we support their use of peaceful means to improve America.”

Apparently Charlie Rangel swung by the protest this weekend too. Incidentally, is that what they’re demonstrating for — corporate “accountability”? Philip Klein was at the protest this weekend and said it sounded more like good old-fashioned Marxism and anarchism to him. Dave Weigel was also there and came away convinced that “no one knows what it’s about,” although the guys at the front of the crowds looked to him too like anarchists straight out of a WTO “protest.” Anyway, the reason Grijalva and Ellison are baptizing the movement tonight is because there’s a big union march in support of it scheduled for tomorrow; that’s the first major attempt to try to mainstream the protests by tilting them away from overt Marxism towards a more media-friendly manifestation.

I wonder when we’ll see more mainstream Dems start to ingratiate themselves with the protesters instead of just the hard-left stalwarts like Grijalva. They saw what happened to Bob Bennett and Mike Castle and know that a left-wing tea party could do the same to them in a primary if it got traction. I think that’s what Van Jones ultimately has in mind, although he may be just goofy enough to think that his throngs of leftists are somehow going to influence/intimidate the GOP. Ah well. Here’s an enjoyable vid from the Occupy D.C. protest, where the goal seems to be … getting a second term for Obama. Exit question: Is it too early to start holding OWS to the same media standards as tea party protests, replete with predominantly white crowds and the occasional malefactor whose bad behavior somehow defines the entire movement?