September 24th: It's Gonna Be BIG!!!

The anti-war demonstrations outside the White House are starting to look like Bush's worst nightmare

From the Ellipse to Lafayette Square, including the streets and sidewalks in between, the public parks encircling the White House can hold about 100,000 people, according to the National Park Service.

Antiwar groups hope to bring that many people to fill the spaces with their rally Sept. 24, the first time in more than a decade that demonstrators will be allowed to surround the White House.

At a news conference yesterday, two major antiwar coalitions announced a demonstration and march that could be the largest since the Iraq war began, according to Bill Dobbs, a spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, one of the groups organizing three days of events.

The Park Service and the groups are negotiating the fine points of a permit, such as electrical cord routes and riser placement, but "in all likelihood," the permit will be issued to the groups' specifications, Park Service spokesman Bill Line said.

The rally has been in the works for months, but public sentiment about the war has soured, which has "marked a turning point for the antiwar movement," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, which is partnering with Dobbs's group.