CHICAGO — The best tickets cost $1,202 and planners expect thousands of fans to pack an arena in Hoffman Estates, but the headliner isn’t Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen — it’s Glenn Beck.
The popular and polarizing multimedia celebrity is the largest name on the lineup for “Right Nation 2010,” an event aimed at uniting Midwestern conservatives, libertarians, tea partiers and Republicans six weeks before national elections.
The event planned for Sept. 18 at the Sears Centre will mark Beck’s first appearance in “Obama’s backyard,” according to organizers.
Planners hope it will spur the Midwest into leading the country in a “180” away from the direction set when President Barack Obama was elected in November 2008, said Dan Proft, a spokesman for the conservative groups sponsoring the event. Its location, outside traditionally Democratic Chicago, is not a coincidence, Proft said.
“It’s clearly sending a message,” he said. “We want to rally people in what is perceived to be Obama base camp.”
With the possible exception of Sarah Palin, no one galvanizes conservatives the way Beck does, Proft said. A video posted on the event’s website (rightnation2010.com) lays audio of President Ronald Reagan over images of the country’s founders, predicting “an event bigger than we have ever seen.”
Beck headlines a lineup that includes conservative luminaries such as former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, online publisher Andrew Breitbart and U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill.
Ticket prices start at $77, but, according to the Sears Centre’s website, anyone willing to shell out more than $1,000 for V.I.P. seating can meet Beck and take home a signed copy of one of his books.
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