Supporters of universal health care clogged Westlake Park in Seattle yesterday evening, waving signs and venting their frustration at opponents, FoxNEWS and insurance companies. About 2,000 demonstrators were in the park, a thumbnail estimate seconded by the Seattle PD. Between 50 and 100 counter-demonstrators showed up, most of whom were kept corralled across the street. Short of a few hot words and some back-and-forth shouting across the event was fairly peaceable. Seattle Nice at its finest.”As a state, we haven’t seen the physical interactions we’ve seen in other parts of the country,” said Dustin Lambro, State Director for Organizing for America. “We want to talk about the positives of health care and discourage our supporters from getting in a back-and-forth with the teabaggers.”An alphabet soup of liberal organizations partnered for the event, including the unions SEIU, UFCW and the Washington State Labor Council as well as WashPIRG and Planned Parenthood. The umbrella organizations that obtained the permit at Westlake were Organizing for America and Health Care for America NOW!, offshoots of President Barack Obama’s grassroots election campaign.Headlining the event was Congressman Jim McDermott who gave a coherent speech commemorating the memory of Senator Ted Kennedy. He asked the audience to keep working, demonstrating in the streets, writing letters and knocking on doors.The evening was short on nuanced policy discussion and had more of a pep rally feel. Rev. Leslie Braxton, the former pastor at Seattle’ s Mount Zion Baptist Church, led several achingly dated chants touching on the crowd’s mood.”What do we want?” Health Care! “When do we want it?” Now!”Hey, hey. Ho, ho. The status quo has got to go.””Somebody scream!” Yeeeaaaargh.Save Baily BennettMark Bennett, a Tacoma resident, spoke at the rally about his four-year old son Baily, who had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last April. Bennett’s son had been approved for a transplant which would save his life. However, his employer had switched insurance providers and the new plan mandates a six-month waiting period before covering the costs”It’s a broken system that we’re living with every day,” Bennett said. “You shouldn’t have to stop and get an insurance company to agree with what doctors say need to happen.”Although he was keen to get word out about his son, a website asking for donations has been put up, BailyBennett.com, the father stopped short of taking an exact political stance on the debate saying that he had no favorite health care plan back in D.C. The speech he gave to the crowd on behalf of his son was refreshingly non-political.Astroturf or Grassroots?One of the favorite tactics of folks on the left and the right of the health care debate is to accuse other demonstrators of being “astroturfers”. Although it was difficult to gauge whether the activism on display was Kingdome worthy, the majority of the signage on display were pre-printed SEIU union placards. Prior to the rally, this reporter was chatting with a local liberal blogger when a rally volunteer walked up with a bushel of “homemade” hand-drawn signs asking if we wanted one.Where’s the Press?That was the question on the minds of most of the Westlake demonstrators. A large camera well had been set aside to house the majority of television cameramen, radio and newspaper reporters expected to be on hand to cover the event. You’d think that 2,000 people demonstrating on a topical and controversial issue like health care would merit some media attention?Wrong.Other than The Seattle Weekly, the only journalists that were observed was a KOMO 4 news crew. There were rumors that KING 5 was in attendance as well as a couple radio stations. And the Seattle Times? Once again a no show.Geaux Tigers! Neaux ObamacareDowntown Seattle has been inundated by purple clad college football fans from Louisiana State University. The No. 11 ranked team routinely has around 25,000 people travel with the squad. So it was quite the thrill for the hundreds of Cajuns and Coonasses up here from the bayou to be able to witness a genuine Seattle protest. What better way to prove you’ve been in the Northwest than to have your picture taken with an authentic sign-waving demonstrator. (Seattle Chamber of Commerce take note, more protests for the tourists).Chatting with more than a dozen Louisianans wearing Tigers paraphernalia, they were all excited to see the rally, even though they were unanimous in disagreeing with its goal.”Congress can’t run Social Security or Cash for Clunkers. What makes them think that they can control one-fourth of the U.S. economy,” said Lake Charles, Louisiana resident Chad Sarver.More photos:A demonstrator who looked remarkably like Congressman Ron Paul getting down on the accordion.About 2,000 demonstrators turned out in Westlake Park. Counter demonstrators.Carol Harlow gives some useful advice for anyone attending a political rally.Ferndale resident Sherry Zeilstra carries a Teddy Kennedy bear.A very down on his luck Notre Dame Irish mascot was furious that other Americans disagreed with his political point of view.It wouldn’t be a Seattle protest without a giant paper mache puppet.Seattle’s Finest.