11 Takeaways From the Coffee Party's Debut

(March 14) – It calls itself the Coffee Party, a name chosen to reflect its founding goal: to provide disaffected citizens with a less-angry alternative to the Tea Party. And on Saturday, the would-be movement staged coming-out events in nearly 400 locations nationwide.

AOL News had correspondents at four of the gatherings -- in Bethalto, Ill. (a village near the Missouri border), the college town of Corvallis, Ore., Omaha, Neb., and Orlando, Fla. Their reports -- though obviously not a scientific sampling -- provide a composite portrait of the Coffee Party's early recruits. They are people who think the political atmosphere has become too hostile; want reform for both the health-care system and Wall Street; and -- their new affiliation notwithstanding -- are not particularly big drinkers of joe.

Venues: Independent coffee shops, an independent coffee shop-slash-video store, and a Whole Foods supermarket.

Attendance: From a low of eight in Corvallis, Ore., to a high of 41 in Orlando.

Average Age: 48.45

Gender and Racial Breakdown: The crowds at the four events our correspondents attended were predominately white and roughly 60 percent male.

Socio-economic Self-Sample: Middle class to upper middle class.

Sample Occupations: Student, attorney (retired), financial services, professor, graphic designer, florist, bail bondsman

Event Formats: All featured round-table discussions. In Orlando, participants were also invited to make posters illustrating what they hoped to accomplish through the Coffee Party.

Topics Discussed: In keeping with the Coffee Party's stated mission, returning civility to politics was a common theme. In Bethalto, Ill., the crowd had to agree to the Coffee Party pledge, which includes a promise to "be respectful of other individual opinions, even if I disagree with them." Attendees at all four events also voiced support for health care reform. Anti-corporate sentiment was prevalent as well.

Selected Sound Bites: "This country is controlled by one political party, and 95 percent of us don't belong to it, and that's the corporations," said retired lawyer-turned-bus driver Richard Burdick in Nebraska. In Oregon, Bob, a retiree who refused to give his last name -- and who drove 50 miles to attend the event -- declared, "I have not been involved in politics since the '60s and '70s, and we did some radical things back then. I am moved to action once again."

Follow-Up Events Planned: Yes, in all cases.

Coffee Consumption: Moderate. For instance, only four of the 26 attendees at the Whole Foods in Omaha drank coffee. And politically maligned latte sippers were in short supply, as most orders were for basic drip java (though a few skinny mochas were consumed at Dutch Brothers Coffee in Corvallis).

People Who Would Feel Out of Place at a Coffee Party Event: Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh fans, hardcore conservatives, hardcore coffee drinkers ("the event was very sedate," reports our Orlando correspondent).

--By Carl Benjamin in Bethalto, Ill., Jenny Tinsley in Corvallis, Ore., Oliver VanDervoort in Omaha, Neb., and Steven Milling in Orlando, Fla.