Whoa! What a crowd puller “World’s Biggest Celebrity” has been
He has proved to be an extraordinary crowd puller, he no doubt is the “World’s Biggest Celebrity and his appeal extends from Columbus to Cape Town., from St. Louis to St. Georges’s, from Denver to Dublin.
Barack Obama drew his biggest US audience of 100K at a rally in St. Louis. He drew the largest crowd to ever attend a political event in Columbus. Sixty-thousand people packed into a park alongside the banks of the Willamette River to listen to Obama, with another 15,000 left standing outside the gates, according to city fire officials. Hundreds more anchored their motorboats, or floated in kayaks and canoes.
In Denver “well over” 100,000 people attended the rally at Civic Center Park, at which Obama also chanted “si se puede,” or “yes we can,” in Spanish, with the attendees.
And now his inauguration is expected to draw ONE MILLION PLUS to the capital, and already some lawmakers have stopped taking ticket requests and hotels have booked up.
The largest crowd ever recorded on the National Mall was for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 inauguration. At the time, the park service estimated 1.2 million people descended on the area.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration drew about 500,000 people, and President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration drew about 800,000 people.
Of course, the crowds can always thin out. Ronald Reagan’s second swearing-in ceremony had to be moved indoors, and the parade was canceled when the temperature dropped below 10 degrees (with a wind chill at 10 degrees to 20 degrees below zero.) John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 came with a blanket of snow; still, 1 million people turned out.
Some people are bartering on Craigslist for places to stay for the Jan. 20 ceremony when the Illinois senator takes the oath of office. They are offering cash or even help with dishes for residents willing to open up their homes.
The National Park Service, which is planning for an inaugural crowd of at least 1 million, will clear more viewing space along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route. Jumbo TV screens will line the National Mall so people can watch the inauguration and parade, park service.
The District of Columbia’s delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton says.
“You can’t judge by past inaugurations. It’s going to break all the records,” “They’re going to come with or without tickets. … It’s each man and woman for himself.”
Seat tickets had sold for between $15 and $150 in 2005 to help pay for the inaugural parade. Details for the 2009 parade tickets have not been set because Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee, which organizes the parade, is being formed
The inauguration has been designated a National Special Security Event, giving the U.S. Secret Service the lead in coordinating all law enforcement agencies to secure the event. There are 58 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies working together.
Sales sites like eBay, StubHub and Kijiji, said it will not allow tickets to the inauguration to be sold on its Web sites.
The inauguration will come at the end of a four-day holiday for federal workers, following the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 19.
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