Million plus could attend Obama's inauguration

Bourne · 11th November 2008 12:39 AM

Incredible how popular Obama is. Obama may very well have a record number of attendees at his inauguration. A demonstration that this country is united firmly behind him and his plan to correct the mess left by the Bush Administration.

Tens of thousands of people across the country will be scrambling this week to prepare for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Washington for the Jan. 20 swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama, which could draw the largest inaugural crowd ever.

With the election of the nation's first black president and the enormous interest in the young, charismatic leader and his family, officials said the crowd could surpass the 1.2 million who attended President Lyndon Johnson's inauguration in 1965.
As Horace Mackey, of Stone Mountain, Ga., put it: "There's no way I'm missing that."
Members of Congress, who will distribute tickets, were swamped with requests. The office of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., was "deluged." The switchboard in the office of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., was "overwhelmed." The office of Del. Eleanor Homes Norton, D-D.C., got so many calls that they had to stop taking requests.
William Hanbury, president of Destination DC, the District of Columbia's convention and tourism arm, said the area's 95,000 hotel rooms are filling up fast, and he expects there will be many "innovative accommodations."
"It is an extraordinarily historic event," he said. "The church group from Atlanta, the high school from Chicago - they're all trying to find places to stay. You're going to have people sleeping in church basements and high school cafeterias."