Spring Break
Obama begins his road to the White House
MCT
Issue date: 1/15/09 Section: News
Barack Obama's path to his inauguration will begin in Philadelphia on Saturday morning, but the public should not expect much of a glimpse of the president-elect--not in Philadelphia, anyway.
Obama will take a special train out of the 30th Street Station shortly before noon as he starts a ceremonial journey to Washington, where he will begin three days of celebratory events leading up to his swearing-in on Tuesday.
An invitation-only group of 200 to 300 volunteers from the Obama election campaign--along with Gov. Edward Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, and several other top elected officials--will join the president-elect and his family in the North Waiting Room of the station starting at 10:05 a.m.
"It's very flattering and satisfying that the president-elect is beginning his inaugural in Philadelphia," said lawyer Mark Alderman, a key Obama supporter who will attend.
"Philadelphia was a significant contributor to his early fund-raising, which established his credentials as a candidate," Alderman said. "And Pennsylvania was a key to his election."
No open event is planned in Philadelphia, but the public will get a chance to see Obama when he stops at the Wilmington, Del., Amtrak station at 1 p.m. and then visits Baltimore later in the day, according to an announcement yesterday by the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Police along the route are expecting crowds to gather on overpasses and in small stations to see Obama's train pass by.
The trip partly replicates the path that Abraham Lincoln took to his inauguration in 1861.
Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will board the train in Wilmington, in the state he represented in the Senate until becoming Obama's second-in-command. In Baltimore, the event at War Memorial Plaza will be at 4:15 p.m.
Passengers on the Obama train--mostly not big donors or VIPs-- will be from all over the country.
David L. Cohen, an Obama donor and a key Democratic Party player in Philadelphia, said last night that he had not been invited to the 30th Street event.
Several other key Obama figures said the same thing.
"I don't think this is an event for donors," Cohen said.
Chris Mather, a spokeswoman for the Obama committee, described the 30th Street Station invitees as "the volunteers who worked really, really hard--the unsung heroes who didn't get paid."
Obama will take a special train out of the 30th Street Station shortly before noon as he starts a ceremonial journey to Washington, where he will begin three days of celebratory events leading up to his swearing-in on Tuesday.
An invitation-only group of 200 to 300 volunteers from the Obama election campaign--along with Gov. Edward Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, and several other top elected officials--will join the president-elect and his family in the North Waiting Room of the station starting at 10:05 a.m.
"It's very flattering and satisfying that the president-elect is beginning his inaugural in Philadelphia," said lawyer Mark Alderman, a key Obama supporter who will attend.
"Philadelphia was a significant contributor to his early fund-raising, which established his credentials as a candidate," Alderman said. "And Pennsylvania was a key to his election."
No open event is planned in Philadelphia, but the public will get a chance to see Obama when he stops at the Wilmington, Del., Amtrak station at 1 p.m. and then visits Baltimore later in the day, according to an announcement yesterday by the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Police along the route are expecting crowds to gather on overpasses and in small stations to see Obama's train pass by.
The trip partly replicates the path that Abraham Lincoln took to his inauguration in 1861.
Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will board the train in Wilmington, in the state he represented in the Senate until becoming Obama's second-in-command. In Baltimore, the event at War Memorial Plaza will be at 4:15 p.m.
Passengers on the Obama train--mostly not big donors or VIPs-- will be from all over the country.
David L. Cohen, an Obama donor and a key Democratic Party player in Philadelphia, said last night that he had not been invited to the 30th Street event.
Several other key Obama figures said the same thing.
"I don't think this is an event for donors," Cohen said.
Chris Mather, a spokeswoman for the Obama committee, described the 30th Street Station invitees as "the volunteers who worked really, really hard--the unsung heroes who didn't get paid."
Be the first to comment on this story