Hundreds queue for tickets to Obama event in Fla.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
President Barack Obama walks past a statue of a deer as he leaves the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, as he left for a trip to Elkhart, Ind. to hold a town hall meeting on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.
Published: February 9, 2009
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — People in line for tickets to President Obama’s town hall meeting in southwest Florida say they were told there were none left — 25 minutes after the box office opened.
The free tickets were distributed Monday. Residents questioned whether the advertised 1,500 tickets were handed out.
Obama plans visit Fort Myers on Tuesday to promote the $820 billion economic stimulus plan. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist intends to join him. Fort Myers’ unemployment rate has climbed to 10 percent, and its housing market is among the nation’s worst.
The first person in line was 51-year-old Roy Hendrix of Fort Myers, who had been homeless until some friends took him in. Hendrix says he’d like to thank Obama for “giving us hope that he can help turn this economy around.“
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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