Inauguration tickets prompt buying frenzy

Washington authorities are preparing for a minimum of one million people to descend on America's capital for Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20. Tickets should be hard to come by though after Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a new law on Monday which would ban the sale or counterfeiting of entry passes.

A total of only 240,000 tickets are available free from congressional offices in each state but demand is far outstripping supply. Although Ebay and other online shopping sites have banned the sale of the entry coupons, the new legislation has not yet officially been passed. "The inauguration of the president of the United States is one of the most important rituals in our democracy," said Feinstein introducing the law to Senate on Monday. "And the chance to witness this solemn event should not be bought and sold like tickets to a football game."

"Want tickets?" asks Willie Brown on the San Francisco Chronicle, "try to get them from members of Congress in states that didn't vote for Obama," he suggests: "I mean, how many people from Oklahoma think this is the nation's biggest historical moment?" However, the Arizona office of failed Republican presidential candidate John McCain told the BBC there was a 900-strong waiting list for the 300 tickets they had on offer.

FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 19, 2008