Party may of course be an overstatement. But it was about as packed as an old-school house party can get.

If the shindig over at the NZ Embassy was for the who's who of Maine politics, then the reception held by Democratic Reps Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree was for the people.

By my best guesstimate, more than 200 people packed into the hearing room for the Veterans Affairs Committee (something I'm sure Michaud was able to snag thanks to being chairman of the vets committee).

A nice spread - cheese and crackers - and great views of the Capitol and the national mall, also with the human traffic along Independence Avenue. But folks got a nice surprise in the way of a few remaining tickets for the inauguration. A Michaud staffer joked that he felt like Willy Wonka giving out golden tickets. I was thinking he would be on the receiving end of an desperate - but happy desperate, not the bad kind - mob. There was some tension in the air, knowing there would be haves and have-nots. Luckily one of the winners was an older woman...and you'd have to be a hard hearted agent of hope to tackle an old lady for an inauguration ticket.

(Which reminds me - anyone see any reports of shenanigans around inauguration tickets? This is bigger than the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the lower Oakland Roller Derby finals all rolled into one.)

Overall I'd have to say the mood around DC seems to be jovial (minus some Republicans of course. I overheard what may have been Republican lobbyists crying in their drinks about the new state of affairs while writing up my earlier post.). One congressional staffer told me it's the most upbeat and optimistic mood they'd seen in DC for years.

Today the Metro worked (for me at least) and the crowds were manageable (when I wasn't having things thrown at me by them). In other words, it would be easy to think things are going to run smoothly tomorrow. I'm not that foolish.

As promised, photos from today's activities - mostly shoe throwing activities.

Finally, some inauguration links:

- The Wall Street Journal offers this profile in action of the man conducting the whole inauguration - a Mainer.

- One big question about to be answered: how cell phone networks will respond to the inauguration. Could be test of the "tech president."

- Lifehacker does everyone a service and offers up this thorough list of ways to catch the inauguration from the comfort of...anywhere really.

- Finally, because it is Martin Luther King day, I thought this clip would prove fascinating. The BBC has found a clip of Dr. King discussing how long it would take for a black man to become president. He was surprisingly close.

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