I didn't realize it when I posted.

Here is Matt Cutts' explanation of the date options:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/useful-google-feature-better-d...

In fact there is. You have to click on one of the other date options before it shows up. For instance, http://www.google.com/webhp?&ie=UTF-8#q=occupy+oakland&#... shows results from the last three days, sorted by date.

Huh, that's good to know. Unfortunately what I was looking for was a reverse sort by date...