Washington: Thousands upon thousands of people have requested tickets from members of Congress to attend President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, forcing some lawmakers to tell constituents to stop calling.
And those are just requests for some of the 240,000 free tickets that will admit holders somewhere within four blocks of the Capitol when Obama raises his right hand and takes the oath of office on January 20.
West of the Capitol complex, the unticketed masses will gather the length of the National Mall with next to no chance of seeing Obama sworn in with their own eyes. Jumbotron screens are expected to relay the images.
More than 1 million people are expected for the historic inauguration of the nation's first black president, quite possibly more than the record 1.2 million people who attended Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration in 1965.
With each lawmaker only getting from 200 to 500 tickets for the ceremony, some members of Congress aren t even taking requests anymore because of the overwhelming demand.
"Special Alert!" blares a message in red on the Web page of the District of Columbia's delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton. "Inauguration tickets not Available. Please do not call or email."
Even in districts far from Washington, the demand is overwhelming. "There are no guarantees that you will receive a ticket by submitting your request," warns Rep Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, on her Web page.
"Unfortunately, anyone calling with requests at this point would have no chance to be granted tickets," Rep Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican, said Thursday.
