Los Angeles Times:

Emboldened by the Democratic takeover of Congress and shrinking public support for the Iraq war, antiwar groups are planning what they hope will be a massive protest Saturday on the National Mall.

Similar events are planned in dozens of cities around the country, with some of the largest expected in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Organizers said they aim to put pressure on both the White House and Congress to end the war.

“The message will be ‘Mr. President, bring our troops home,’ ” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), one of several politicians, activists and actors scheduled to speak in Washington.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/Push Coalition, one of the rally sponsors, is also scheduled to appear on the mall, organizers said. Others on the lineup are Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, a longshot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and actors Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.

“We’re predicting this will be one of the largest demonstrations since the war began,” said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, the umbrella group organizing the Washington protest…

In Los Angeles, about 100 groups are planning to gather downtown. Organizers expect tens of thousands of marchers, including many bused in from Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Rallies are also planned in San Francisco, San Diego, Mount Shasta and Palm Springs.

The Los Angeles protest is to begin at noon outside the California Democratic Party’s Los Angeles office at 888 S. Figueroa St., with participants marching past City Hall to the federal building at 300 N. Los Angeles St.

Speakers will include Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq and became a symbol of the antiwar movement after camping out in protest near President Bush’s Texas ranch, and Ron Kovic, the antiwar activist and Vietnam veteran who wrote “Born on the Fourth of July.”

About 300 soldiers from California have been killed in Iraq, more than from any other state.