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Presidential inauguration tickets too rare for mailing
If you are lucky enough to get one, you must pick it up in person
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
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Published: January 11, 2009
Those people lucky enough to nab tickets to the inauguration of President-elect Obama next week will have to wade through Washington traffic to pick them up.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies will begin distributing the 240,000 tickets Monday to members of Congress so they can provide them to their constituents.
People who wanted tickets for the inauguration had to put in a request late last year, and congressional offices have already determined who will get them.
The lucky ticket-getters must pick up their tickets, which are free, in person at the offices of their congressional representatives, officials said.
David Ward, the deputy secretary for Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said that people have to pick up tickets in Washington because of the risk of the tickets being lost in the mail. If a ticket is lost, a constituent can't get another one, he said.
Given the historical significance of Obama's being sworn in as the first black president, millions of people are expected to come to Washington for the inauguration. Estimates range anywhere from 2 million to 5 million.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives were each allocated 198 tickets. U.S. senators were provided with 393 tickets.
"People who get the tickets have all been notified," said Aaron Groen, a spokesman for Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th. Foxx's office held a lottery to determine who would get tickets. Others made the determination on a first-come, first-served basis.
Those who have tickets will be in an area between the west front terrace of the Capitol and Fourth Street, which is one block of the National Mall. That area will hold about 240,000 people.
People without tickets can still come to the inauguration but they will have to watch the ceremony from the National Mall or line up along Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade.
The process for distributing tickets is the same as it was four years ago, officials said, because the number of tickets is the same. Each congressional office can set up its own procedures for how to distribute tickets in Washington. People who have been allotted tickets should call to see when they can pick them up.
Ward said he is encouraging people who are picking up tickets from Burr's office to come the day before the inauguration because of the sheer number of people expected in Washington on Jan. 20, Ward said.
However, Groen and Ward said that no extra staff will be needed to handle the people coming in to pick up tickets.
Corey Little, the spokesman for Rep. Mel Watt, D-12th, said he did not know yet how the office would handle distributing tickets in Washington.
"We're still trying to contact the people who have the tickets," he said.
Ward said that traffic will definitely be an issue all that weekend, so people should not wait until the last minute.
"I don't think driving is going to be very much fun, parking is not going to be easy," he said. "This is just going to be impossible."
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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