Inauguration a hot ticket

South Carolina's congressional delegation is getting swamped with requests for tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration in January, and thousands expect to make the trip even if they don't get one.

Phil Noble, an Obama supporter and president of the S.C. New Democrats, said he has heard that Obama's team may discourage people from making the trip, partly because a crowded, expensive inaugural might look bad during difficult economic times and partly because the capital city can handle only so many people.

"But I don't think there's any way that even Obama can hold back the flood," Noble said. "I think it will probably be the largest collection of humanity in Washington, D.C., in history."

Those who want a relatively close view are angling for one of the 240,000 tickets to the Jan. 20, 2009, inaugural. All but 30,000 of them will have to stand.

First District Rep. Henry Brown's office already has had thousands of ticket requests — requests that have been pouring in since March, before both parties had picked their nominee.

"They are still coming in in large numbers," Brown's press secretary Katie McKinney said, adding that Brown's office will soon work with others in the South Carolina delegation to decide who will get his allotment of about 200 tickets.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn's office also does not know how many people he will be able to secure tickets for. His communications director, Hope Derrick, said the office "has received an estimated 2,000 requests for tickets since last Tuesday and the calls are still coming at an extraordinary pace."

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's office began receiving requests about a year ago, and those requests quickly surpassed the 300 mark two days after Obama won. Graham will give out tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, and has stopped taking requests, said Wes Hickman of Graham's Washington office.

Hickman said those without a ticket will be able to look on from a public viewing area starting around Fourth Street on the Washington Mall.

"It's going to be a huge crowd regardless of whether people have tickets or not," he said.

The tickets not only are valued among Obama supporters and others who want to see history made as the nation's first black president gets sworn in, but they're also valued among those hoping to make a buck.

As Internet sites began offering inauguration tickets for $20,000 and up Monday, the senator overseeing the swearing-in ceremony said she's writing to sites such as eBay asking them not to sell them.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she's crafting a bill that would make scalping the tickets a federal crime. The tickets are supposed to be free, distributed through congressional offices.

Meanwhile, tickets to at least one inaugural ball are already sold out. The $200-per-person tickets to the Hawaii State Society Inaugural Ball at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel are gone. The new president and the first lady typically make the rounds of the nearly dozen balls in Washington, D.C., and the Hawaiian-born Obama is certain to stop by this one. Other balls are still in the planning stages.

The fervor comes as the plans for the inaugural are only beginning to be made.

The Armed Forces Inaugural Committee will receive applications until Friday from bands that want to play in the inaugural parade.

Noble said he's unsure if he'll attend. He has been to previous inaugurals and isn't eager to fight even bigger crowds this time, but, he added, "I suspect I will."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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