Inauguration ticket selling a murky area

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Postings on Craigslist show a free-market principle in action as demand exceeds the supply of tickets for Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday in Washington.

The distribution of 240,000 free tickets to the nation's most anticipated inauguration has triggered a gray market of reselling tickets online, sometimes at $500 a pop or more, despite official discouragement, threats of confiscation and stringent ID requirements, Politico said.

"I believe the scalping of inaugural tickets runs contrary to the spirit of this historic inauguration," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Rules Committee chairwoman who introduced legislation to bar inauguration ticket sales. "Anyone who has requested tickets from my office will be required to agree not to sell them or will have their tickets revoked."

Other Beltway insiders said they were resigned to ticket hawking.

"You can't stop supply and demand," said Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University. "Furthermore, I suspect most of these people don't really feel they are doing anything wrong in

reselling the tickets."

Obama's inauguration is hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and members of Congress hand out the bulk of the tickets. Some members distribute them to friends, donors and allies while others have online lotteries. Politico reported none of the congressional members it contacted said they gave away tickets knowing they would be sold. Feinstein, among others, retrieved the tickets after Politico flagged a Craigslist listing.