Aug. 28 — Beck and Palin hit the Mall

Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial offered a high profile demonstration of the cable television host’s and former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin’s following.

Though crowd estimates were all over the map — and organizers of the later “Restoring Sanity” rally featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert claimed to have surpassed the turnout at the Beck and Palin event — the amount of interest and press coverage of the rally gave a glimpse into the two conservative outsiders’ impact in generating voter enthusiasm.