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Inaugural Tickets A Hot Item

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The Associated Press

Published: November 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - The senator overseeing Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony said Monday she's writing to Internet sites such as eBay asking them not to sell scalped inauguration tickets.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also said she's crafting a bill that would make a federal crime of selling tickets to the historic event Jan. 20.

Feinstein, who chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said she foresees overwhelming demand for the 240,000 available tickets and has heard reports they may be sold for as much as $40,000 online.

The tickets are supposed to be free to the public and distributed through congressional offices.

The office of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, has received more than 430 calls requesting more than 1,500 tickets, spokeswoman Ellen Gedalius said.

Gedalius does not know how many tickets Castor will receive.

"These tickets are given for free to people. This is a major civic event of the time, and no one pays for their tickets, and we believe no one should be required to pay for their tickets," Feinstein said in an interview.

As of Tuesday morning, a search of eBay yielded plenty of inauguration items but no tickets to the event. However, the ticket site StubHub had tickets to the inauguration on sale from $1,249.99 to $5,350.

Tribune reporter Neil Johnson contributed to this report.

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