The hottest ticket in Washington, D.C., doesn't cost a dime, but securing a spot to watch the 44th president of the United States sworn in on Jan. 20 might require a bit of luck due to the high demand.
John Schadl, a spokesman for Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., said the congressman's office hopes to come up with a plan to allocate the tickets next week. That's never been a problem before, he said.
"We've got four requests for every ticket," he said. "People are really excited about this inauguration. In the past we've never had more requests than tickets."
Estimates as to the total number of tickets being issued range between 240,000 and 250,000.
Schadl said Oberstar's office will have 198 tickets to distribute and they've already had about 800 requests from people who would like to be in the viewing area on the west lawn of the Capitol for the outdoor swearing-in ceremony. While there will be bleachers, some of those in the viewing area likely will be standing, Schadl said. He said big television screens will be set up for overflow crowds on the National Mall.
He attributed the demand to the historic nature of inaugurating the first black president as well as the enthusiasm that President-elect Barack Obama has garnered throughout the campaign.
"People in northeastern Minnesota were very excited about him as a candidate," Schadl said. "People are sort of seeing things changing and they want to be a part of it."
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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