Sean Hannity brews a bigger Atlanta Tea Party

Metro Atlanta conservative activists are aflutter this week with Sean Hannity’s announcement that he’ll broadcast live from the “Atlanta Tax Day Tea Party” protest.

The only problem now, organizers say, will be finding a location big enough to host the April 15 event.

Hannity, the Fox News host and former Atlanta talk-radio jock, will be coming to town to draw attention to the tea party movement inspired by CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli’s Feb. 19 rant against aid for homeowners on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.

In a now famous, on-air screed, Santelli turned to traders and asked them if they ought to hold "Chicago tea party" to protest President Obama's proposed program to help struggling homeowners with their mortgages (never mind that his cohorts were members of the financial industry that's been benefiting far more from government handouts!).

Amy Kremer of Roswell, co-chair of the Atlanta protest and a coordinator of tea parties nationwide, says she agrees with Santelli, but adds that opposing government assistance for mortgage holders isn’t the main focus of tea party rallies scheduled across the nation on April 15. It’s more as if the tea party theme has become a catalyst for conservative and Republican activists to rally against Obama’s economic recovery policies.

"It's about the bigger picture," she says. “I’m tired of standing in front of my TV and screaming. The amazing thing is I’m not alone.”

Kremer says the idea for “tea parties” was brewing among conservative bloggers and Twitterers since last fall, when President Bush pushed for the initial $700 billion bank bailout. But Santelli’s expression of frustration prompted 22 activists from around the country to hold a conference call the next day, during which they decided to hold tea party protests a week later.

Rallies ended up being held in nearly 50 cities on Feb. 27. The one in Atlanta drew 300-400 people, Kremer says. When Republican state legislators — meeting inside the Capitol at the time — realized the rally might be the start of a populist movement, they ventured out to speak to the crowd and to jump on the bandwagon, she said.

That was just a start. After the February rallies, organizers decided to hold tea-party-themed protests across the nation on April 15. After all, the Boston Tea Party of 1773 was held to protest taxes.

So far, 29 “tea parties” are scheduled for April 15 — from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Bend, Oregon, according to the Tea Party Patriots website. The Atlanta event had already promised to be among the largest when Hannity announced on Friday that he planned to come.

The other announced attendees include U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Marietta, and conservative radio “Regular Guy” Eric von Haessler.

On Tuesday, however, Kremer said Capitol Police and City of Atlanta Police informed her that the space at the Capitol would be too small to handle the expected crowd. Even if Mitchell Street was closed in front of the Capitol, she said, there’s only room for 2,000 people. Kremer said she expects at least 10,000.

“I think this is going to bigger than anything I’ve ever done,” she says.

The new location should be announced by Thursday.