This string of nation-wide protests was spontaneous, but it was egged on and given form by the establishment of the conservative movement. In Washington, the Tea Party protest was brought into a rough, flash mob order by J.P. Freire, the young managing editor of the American Spectator and a rising star in cable TV punditry. Freire launched a web site and Facebook page for the Washington event, Malkin promoted it, and conservative think tanks jumped on the bandwagon. By Friday the event was endorsed by Americans for Tax Reform, FreedomWorks, the National Taxpayers Union, and Americans for Prosperity, whose local chapter had helped promote the Kansas rally. The timing meshed with the 36th annual Conservative Political Action conference, and dozens of attendees had hopped on the D.C. metro, skipping a speech from Newt Gingrich, to make this event. Others had driven up from as far away as North Carolina, came to argue that President Obama’s stimulus was bound to fail.