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Lawmakers Flooded With Requests For Inauguration Tickets

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By BILLY HOUSE

bhouse@tampatrib.com

Published: November 17, 2008

Updated: 11/17/2008 02:38 pm

WASHINGTON - Talk about political long shots.

Hundreds of thousands of Floridians are asking congressional offices for tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.

Today, the nation's 100 senators officially learned they each will get 393 tickets to distribute.

The 435 House members were told they each will get 198 tickets to distribute.

That's 5,736 tickets available through Florida lawmakers: two senators and 25 House members.

Now consider that ticket requests made to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson's office alone have exceeded 28,000 through some 13,916 individual calls or e-mails.

Republican Sen. Mel Martinez's office says it has received more than 50,000 requests for tickets.

Tampa Bay area members of the House say they, too, have received hundreds or thousands of requests.

"First come, first serve," is how Martinez spokesman Ken Lundberg says that office's tickets will be distributed.

The tickets being distributed through federal lawmakers represent roughly one-half of the 240,000 tickets to the event.

The rest are to be distributed through the presidential inaugural committee, not yet set up by the Obama transition team. Details of how those will be distributed are not available.

The tickets are for locations near the Capitol, for spots one or two blocks from the Capitol down to the National Mall.

More distant areas of the mall might be opened up, and viewing screens might be set up, but those details have not been worked out.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at 1 (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

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