Oct 29, 2008 5:54 pm US/Central
City, Obama Camp Wires Crossed On Election Night?
Daley Invites Everyone To Grant Park Party; Obama Campaign Limits Tickets
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
Mayor Richard M. Daley discusses preparations for the Election Night rally for Barack Obama.
CBS
Some people fear there may be a disconnect between Barack Obama's campaign and the City of Chicago over plans for a big election night event in Grant Park.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports as construction continues at the south end of Grant Park Wednesday, there are new questions about who'll get to attend the election night event, how they got tickets and whether the city was left completely out of the loop as the Obama campaign planned it.
"People are excited about it," Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday. "We're asking families to come down, really enjoy it. This is going to be a night of celebration. You can feel it."
While Hutchison Field, where the actual event will take place, is said to hold 60,000 or 70,000 people, the mayor talked about as many people in the park as there were for the mass celebrated by Pope John Paul in 1979.
"And we hope it's a million or more," Daley said of the city's expectation for turnout.
Yet just hours after the mayor invited "everyone," an e-mail went out only to what a campaign source described as those who phone banked, traveled to battleground states, signed up for e-mail newsletters or otherwise helped the campaign, inviting them to join the Obamas and Bidens in Chicago for the event.
Within an hour after the e-mail was sent At 2:31 p.m. Tuesday, people who clicked on the link to the tickets, were offered a spot on a wait list.
By Wednesday morning, those who clicked on the link got a simple message: "Thanks for your interest. There are no remaining tickets for this event."
Then, inexplicably, the wait list message went back up.
"That's the Obama campaign with the tickets, not us," Daley said Wednesday.
"I put out a status on my Facebook to see if anyone has extra tickets and wants to take me!" said Obama supporter Char Shada.
"My friend is registered with the Obama Web site and I am her plus one," Sara Condo said.
"You can bet I will be down in Grant Park trying to see something!" Desiree Lauricella said.
Wednesday morning, Mayor Daley, still not fully briefed, appeared back on the same page with the campaign.
"There's only one section that'll have tickets, one section we believe right? Columbus and Balbo, all that all standing room," Daley said.
State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who's been campaigning non-stop for Obama understands the confusion.
"The problems will be ironed out but the campaign is clearly focused more on winning the election. Electing Barack Obama President of the United States," Giannoulias said.
It appears they'll control access to Hutchison Field with two entrances to the main tickets-only section, with fences around the area just as they do during Lollapalooza.
But, just as with the annual summer music festival, people are expected to arrive without tickets. It's still unclear what, if anything, they will be able to see or hear. The mayor said that's up to the Obama campaign.
The city has planned a news conference for Friday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
