Looks like 1.8 million folks attended Barack Obama's first swearing-in.
At least, that's the figure that seems to be winning the estimating game so far. The number comes from Mayor Adrian Fenty's people.
This marks the first time any DC mayor has taken the lead in announcing an inaugural crowd estimate.
The National Park Service used to handle [...]

Looks like I'm going to an inaugural ball tonight.
A friend offered me tickets on Saturday.
I told him I don't own a tux — ostensibly, it's a black tie affair — and it was too late to rent one.
But my friend said that, given the state of the economy, tuxes aren't the only acceptable garb this [...]

Charlie Brotman is announcing his 14th consecutive Inaugural Parade as I type this.
Brotman is a DC legend. Along with his work with presidents, he's a fixture on the local sporting scene. He announced Senators games at Griffith Stadium. He handled PR for Ray Leonard when Sugar Ray was among the most famous athletes in the [...]

George W. Bush wore a blue tie to the ceremony.
Barack Obama wore a red tie.
Symbolic show of acceptance and reaching across the aisle?
Coincidence?
Did they call each other?
Am I late to this party?

ABC News, at least, has gone on record saying that "more than" 1.4 million people came to the mall for the speech.
The previous record was held by Lyndon Johnson's 1965 swearing-in.
"But this isn't official, of course," said ABC anchor Charles Gibson announced.
Wait a minute! The record's not official? How come?
Oh, right.

Getting shut out from actually seeing the swearing-in had its privileges. Well, privilege: I had retail row of inauguration swag on F Street NW pretty much to myself.
I got caught up in the moment. Hell, for today at least, I'm ready to believe the guy deserves an action figure.
Only a superhero could attract so many [...]

This is the scene on E Street NW about an hour ago. Most entrances toward the Mall were already closed off, with police telling folks different stories about what would be open and what wouldn't.
Nobody in this photo, save maybe some law enforcement types, would make it down there by the time Barack Obama gets [...]

For City Paper's current issue I wrote about Butch Street, the National Park Service analyst who used to provide the media with an official crowd estimate at inaugurations and other large events on the Mall.
Congress kicked Street and his agency out of the estimating business for DC events after the controversy over the size of [...]

Workers at the Capitol Hill headquarters of C-Span, Fox News and MSNBC have begun showing up for an extended stay at the massive building that houses their DC operations.
Because of security and traffic concerns, most of the news teams' staffers won't be leaving their offices until their inaugural duties are done.
For many folks, that means [...]

Talking to Michael Dolan, you get the feeling that maybe anything is possible with an Obama Administration coming in.
"My band played an inaugural ball!" says Michael Dolan. "Being a Washingtonian, it doesn't get any better than that."
Dolan (Gonzaga College High School Class of '68) is a writer of books and TV scripts, and, nearest and [...]

There's not a lot about Northern Virginia now that reminds me of the way it was when I was growing up there in the '70s. It's wealthier and more refined and liberal. Democrats win every big race.
JVs is a link to the old Old Dominion, however.
Judging from the scene inside JV's, a wondrous Falls Church [...]

Bruce Springsteen killed the mall crowd and a national radio audience (I was a part of the latter) by co-leading a version of "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.
That's as great an American tune as has ever been written. As the world sees it, Springsteen is his generation's greatest American songwriter.
The setting was [...]

In the wake of members of every other media organization on the planet, I went by Ben's Chili Bowl this afternoon.*
THIS JUST IN: There's still a crowd in and outside the place!
The line should get manageable again sometime around 2017...
*Cliche as this drive-by was, the trip left me totally jazzed. The elation outside Ben's is [...]

Friends, as we observe the inauguration of a new president, there are still two Americas: Those that are happy to see Barack Obama take office, and those that aren't.
Yesterday, during a visit to Gambrills, Md., our car was vandalized by a member of the latter demographic.
Somebody with a lot of free time, duct tape and [...]