On this Christmas Eve let me I got an e-mail from my local senator, Jim Webb. It wasn’t a holiday greetings or a solicitation for money but a response to my earlier request for Inauguration tickets:

Thank you for contacting Senator Webb’s office regarding Inauguration tickets.  As you may know, the Senator’s office has received more than 35,000 total ticket requests and has been allotted only a few hundred tickets.   Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable to accommodate your request for tickets to the Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony on the West Lawn of the United States Capitol. However, please note that the remaining sections of the National Mall will be open to members of the public who were unable to obtain the limited tickets available.  These areas will have large screens to ensure that the general public can easily view the ceremony and festivities.

We wanted to give you this status update well in advance of Inauguration Day so that you can plan accordingly. Please also be aware that in addition to the public viewing area on the National Mall, there are a number of events during the week, including the Inaugural Parade, that do not require tickets.

Due to the extraordinarily high interest in the Swearing-In Ceremony, Senator Webb has sent a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, requesting additional tickets to account for Virginia’s proximity to Washington D.C.   Should Senator Webb receive additional tickets from the Inaugural Committee or any other source and be able to accommodate your request, we will be sure to let you know.

The Swearing-In Ceremony is the only Inaugural event to which our office has received tickets.   Please see the links below for updated information on other Inaugural events that may interest you:

www.inaugural.senate.gov

www.pic2009.org

Thank you again for your interest.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Wilmoth

Administrative Director

Office of Senator Jim Webb

I’m not surprised that I didn’t get any tickets, but it’s a bit of a bummer to get on Christmas Eve. If his office sent it on Boxing Day- then it’s another story. I wonder if thousands of others got the same e-mail on Christmas Eve.

"Jim Webb Speaks 2" courtesy of Flickr user kalexnova

There are some tidbits to glean from the letter. We know that the tickets will be impossible to get and that Virginia, Maryland, and DC are already trying to a bigger slice of the ticket pie. We also know that even without tickets we can expect people to flock to The Mall so they can say, “Hey I was there!”

However there has only been speculation about possible accommodations for the general public and now this is the first “official” word on having screens on The Mall. Of course no further details on how many and where.

Well I hope everybody has a happy holidays- I’ll be checking my inbox to see if any of the other members of congress I requested tickets from come through. It would be a Merry Christmas indeed if I was one of the lucky ones.