(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Sarah Brumfield on January 14, 2009.)
BALTIMORE — Barack Obama’s train trip Saturday from Philadelphia to Washington offers people who can’t make it for the inauguration to catch a glimpse of the next president.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Wednesday that Obama, his family and the group of “everyday Americans” accompanying them on the train plan to gather at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia that morning. Tickets for the event where Obama will speak have been distributed.
The train stops in Wilmington, Del., to pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family. Obama and Biden will speak at an event open to the public at the back of the train station.
The tour continues to Baltimore, where Obama will speak at War Memorial Plaza next to City Hall in late afternoon before departing for Washington.
Committee spokeswoman Chris Mather said the Obama and Biden will be introduced at each event by one of the “everyday Americans” on the tour. Each has met Obama or Biden at some point and told them a compelling story, Mather said.
Officials in Baltimore are working on overflow sites because 100,000 to 150,000 people are expected, but War Memorial Plaza can only accommodate about 30,000 people, said the city’s police commissioner, Frederick Bealefeld.