Obama’s inauguration: Heard from Congress about those tickets?

Requesting tickets: Back in November, which is prehistory in inauguration-planning time, I requested tickets from my member of Congress for the official Swearing-In Ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20. (Tickets to the ceremony are free and must be requested through your U.S. representative or senator — and, no, you can’t buy them on EBay, because the online company agreed not to sell them.)

Getting a response: I just received an e-mail from the office of Rep. Jane Harman (I’m a constituent in her 36th Congressional District, which covers El Segundo, Wilmington and San Pedro), informing me that one ticket has been reserved for me in the west standing section — which is roughly somewhere around 1st Street S.W. about half a block from the viewing platform, according to the attached map. Note to self: Take binoculars.

I had asked for five tickets, but, as Harman’s letter explained, “there were thousands of requests that we could not accommodate at all.” I believe her office was issued fewer than 200 tickets; only 240,000 were printed for the ceremony, which takes place on the Capitol steps. So now I do feel honored — and lucky — to have gotten one.

Getting the ticket: As a bonus, Harman is hosting a pre-inaugural brunch on Capitol Hill that Monday — and that’s when she’ll give me my ticket for the Tuesday ceremony. “Tickets will not be mailed under any circumstance and are not transferable,” the letter says.

Show them the money: Of course, there is another way to get tickets (and good ones at that): Buddy, can you spare $50,000?

Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee 2009 is selling four-day packages that include tickets for four to a nightclub performance on Jan. 17, brunch and VIP seating at a concert the evening of Jan. 18, candelight dinners with members of Congress (and presumably with the Obamas dropping by), and on Jan. 20 tickets to official balls, the swearing-in and seats at the parade, according to the Associated Press.

If you think the price isn’t right, consider that the Bush inaugural package in 2004 cost $250,000 for 10 seats at the inaugural parade, 20 seats at selected dinners and two tickets to a luncheon featuring the president and his veep.

— Mary Forgione, L.A. Times staff writer

[Photo: Construction of the inaugural dais on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in mid-November. Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 10:17 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under Airline travel, Washington D.C.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.