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No Tickets Left for Obama Visit

The free tickets for President Barack Obama's visit Friday to Tampa were all taken in less than five hours.

If you waited to get tickets to see President Barack Obama at Hillsborough Community College Friday, you're out of luck.

Obama's Florida campaign said Wednesday that the free tickets were snatched up in less than five hours, when they were made available Tuesday.

People flooded the four Tampa Bay-area Obama For America offices where tickets were handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis Tuesday.

Even some Republicans got in on the action, like Scott Goldston, who joined his wife and daughter in line at the Obama campaign office in Riverview.

"I'm a Republican, I voted for Obama last time," . "I just wanted to hear him talk, to see if I wanted to vote for him again."

The free tickets were also handed out at the Obama re-election offices in St. Petersburg, Ybor City and Wesley Chapel.

If You Go

Obama will be speaking Friday afternoon, June 22, at the Dale Mabry Campus of Hillsborough Community College, 4001 W. Tampa Bay Blvd.

The president is expected to speak at about 4:15 p.m., his campaign said.

Dane Brown June 20, 2012 at 06:06 pm
I completely agree with Anne! What a joke! Absolutely not fair to give out tickets !
Kelly June 20, 2012 at 06:57 pm
Not fair to give out tickets? What does that mean? But as a matter of fact, the tickets were gone within two hours, not five. How do I know? I got in line at 5:00 (when distribution started) and they came out to tell us they were all gone at the Wesley Chapel office at 7:00. There were at least 500 people in line at the Pasco Headquarters. I'm sure there were even more at the Ybor City. And no...I'm not unemployed. I"m just a thinking individual who supports AND respects The President of the United States.
Dane Brown June 20, 2012 at 07:37 pm
If you are not unemployed how were you able to stand in line whenever and however to get a ticket to see your OWN president???!! What about people who work and can't get off to stand on line for this event or people who don't have a car driving around from one office to the next one until they may get a ticket to see Mr. President! Yeah giving out tickets for only two hours to limited audience is a joke!
Torrey Craig June 20, 2012 at 08:52 pm
I will make a bet ,,, between now and Nov a month will not go by when either one of the candidates will not be in our area. They both will be repeatedly here in the Tampa Bay area ... along the I-4 corridor. Romney was in Orlando, what last week? For a private event. The President is here for a public event.
Anne Onomous June 20, 2012 at 08:57 pm
Hey Torrey..... is that a $10,000 bet? I'm just sayin..... ::wink:: You know, Rick Perry didn't take that bet :)
Robert L. Morris June 20, 2012 at 08:57 pm
I also was at the Wesley Chapel headquarters and it was terrible. I also got there around 4;30 pm and the crowd had already build up and about 300 behind us. They knew how many tickets they had so they could have got some scape paper and put numbers on them for as many tickets as they had and passed them out to the people. Then the rest would go on the waiting list sheet. And we all could have went home instead of waiting 3 hour or more. They even called the police and had some cars towed away. I think that was terrible.
Bob Watson June 20, 2012 at 09:32 pm
Barack, Executive Priviledge will not protect you, now we know it goes all the way up to you, first apologize to Brian Terry's family then to hundreds of Mexican families whose children and Mothers and Fathers were murdered because of Fast & Furious, your Ex. Priviledge will be struck down just like Nixon's was, you are going down for Murder
JaaaaaaayBeeeeeeeeee June 21, 2012 at 07:19 am
Bob,
Do a little research please .... Fast and Furious was approved during King George "the Dumb-Ya"s reign ... now the mostly-the-very same Congress that was in on it is trying to prosecute Eric Holder? ... It is a real stinkin' mess and being turned for political spin. A bunch of people need to come into the light for this.
JaaaaaaayBeeeeeeeeee June 21, 2012 at 07:37 am
As far as frequent visits by candidates goes as we get closer to the election ... yeah, brace yourself. I think they were down here at least every other week closer to polling day. It gets pretty ridiculous.
Primarily because of all of our Electoral College votes ... you can win big chunks of votes. This is an institution that, when first introduced to it as a 5th grader, found myself saying "wow, that must have been pretty useful .... right up until the invention of the telegraph". I still hold that very same opinion .... 40+ years later. If we ran with a straight-forward "he who gets the most actual votes, gets elected", based on national numbers, it would simplify so much about the elections. Right now, it is more of a game of strategy, and overloads some areas, bypassing many others. Might actually get the candidates out to some places where a lot of folks who need more time and exposure with them, rather than saturating key locales. It would be an eye-opener for the candidates and better for everyone in general. I am sure candidates LOVE photo ops of them campaigning in Florida ... where it is some of the prettiest stuff to broadcast. Send them to some places that need a boost.
Katherine June 21, 2012 at 11:25 am
The need for research seems to be all yours, you're not up to date. Holder retracted that statement because it was a lie. Don't believe me? It was all over the news yesterday. I guess you can't blame this on Dumb-Ya....like you blame him for everthing else Oblamee does. Grow up........
Kelly June 21, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Not everyone works 9-5, Monday through Friday job, Dane. Why are you so angry with people for standing in line to get a ticket? Aren't there much bigger things to get in an uproar over?
Kelly June 21, 2012 at 01:01 pm
This is the first instance of Obama using Executive Priviledge. Dubya used it six times without it being struck down by a Democratic Congress or the Supreme Court. Do you really think this will happen? If GWB wasn't prosecuted for war crimes, I sincerely doubt you are correct with a murder charge for the current President of the United States.
JS June 21, 2012 at 03:08 pm
Wouldn't a better venue of been Side Splitters?
steve nellis June 21, 2012 at 07:07 pm
obama had a private event at Morgan and Morgan the lawyer about a month ago
he has had many with actors at 80000 a plate.
steve nellis June 21, 2012 at 07:11 pm
Reagan used it Clinton used it 14 times. It is suppose to be used for national security and a fee select things. Obama said he had no knowledge of the event. This is as shady as nixon
steve nellis June 21, 2012 at 07:15 pm
it was also cancelled before it started by Bush. It was started again under Obama and Holder for one simple reason to scam the America public for more gun control laws and The King Obama blew it
Isabelle Eaton September 7, 2012 at 04:41 pm
How can I get 2 tickets for St Pete to see President Obama? My E-mail is Isaeaton@verizon.net. Thank you!
Isabelle Eaton September 7, 2012 at 04:43 pm
I'm waiting for your answer OK or not?
Isabelle Eaton September 7, 2012 at 04:47 pm
no comment.
Isabelle Eaton September 7, 2012 at 04:48 pm
No comment.
Linda Chion Kenney (Editor) September 7, 2012 at 05:05 pm
Isabelle, your comment is for the June visit in Tampa. I believe we talked on the phone. Here's the link to this weekend's visit - http://patch.com/A-x6s9. Also, you can find phone numbers for local offices at http://www.barackobama.com/fl/feature/office-lookup/.
Daryl Dixon September 7, 2012 at 07:22 pm
All I Heard from our Dear Leader and the rest of the party last night was that Obama saved GM....but gosh this story says it was Bush that approved the bailout..i am so confused......Updated: 12/19/08 President George W. Bush stepped in Friday to keep America's auto industry afloat, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with the terms of the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they can become profitable soon.
"It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession." The money will come from the Wall Street bailout passed by Congress, a reversal for the White House. President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats had long advocated that course, and Bush had resisted it. Of the total, $13.4 billion will be paid out in December and January, administration officials told reporters in a briefing. The last $4 billion is contingent on release of the second installment of the Wall Street bailout funds by Congress.
JS September 7, 2012 at 07:33 pm
Unemployment rate falls to 8.1% as jobless Americans give up looking for work!
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20120907-unemployment-rate-falls-to-8.1-as-jobless-americans-give-up-looking-for-work.ece Who hoo great job ObamaChrist!
Keith Best September 8, 2012 at 02:04 pm
Here are the job numbers the media is not reporting about the August job numbers that just came out. This is what the media is telling you...and it's true. "The unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%. 96,000 jobs created in August."
Here are numbers they are NOT telling you: 1) 368,000 people STOPPED looking for work in August. Meaning they CANNOT be counted as unemployed. These people have no more unemployment benefits to claim and have realized there are zero jobs out there for them. If you were to re-calculate those numbers and include the people who are no longer looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 12%. This number does not include the UNDEREMPLOYED, or the people who have stopped looking for work over the past 3 years; that number would be an astonsighjing 23% 2) 69% of men are working. Meaning 31% are not. The lowest % of working men since the 1940's. 3) The number of employed Americans is at the lowest number in the past 31 years. An incredible number considering there are more people now in the USA than there were in 1981. 4) A record high of 88,921,000 Americans whom are not in the civilian labor force. 5) Manufacturers have cut the most jobs in August than at anytime in the past two years. 6) The supposed "job growth" each month is LESS THAN the number of people LEAVING the workforce every month. People leaving the work force CANNOT be counted as unemployed.
V. Scheurich September 8, 2012 at 09:19 pm
What America is going to get when and if The President gets another 4 years.
E-mail him and ask him if it is true because it is. You will not get an answer to your question. This has all been fact checked and is true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wIfI2whjiM
George Gould September 8, 2012 at 11:05 pm
Yeah, that really nails it. The election is almost over. Lady Romney, send your interior decorator to the White House to measure the drapes. A YouTube made by professional toe-sucker Dick Morris? How much more confirmation could one possibly need for anything? Who checked the facts? Glenn Beck?
Tim Henline September 9, 2012 at 01:19 am
I amazes me how society is viewing what is going on around them. We consistently vote in the two party system year after year, expecting something different to happen- then argue like like kids about the end results.
If Obama, gets re-elected, control will remain with corporate America, and the elite in society. If Romney gets elected, control will remain with corporate America, and the elite in society. It is a two party dictatorship-view it how you want. I am not a fan of our sitting President, but I take issue to the fact that the republican house showed no partisanship in the last four years-only votes in favor for them to position themselves for a takeover of power. The citizens of this country were never a consideration. Albert Einstein was quoted as defining insanity by "doing the same thing over and over -expecting different results. So go ahead, vote for either party in the two party system and expect four more years of pain and suffering, or take a brave step, and vote independant-if it don't work, it is at least a fighting chance from a guaranteed continual loss of our identity. Have a nice day.
Anny September 9, 2012 at 08:45 pm
Dane is quite funny and sounds a bit resentful. It is great that so many people want to attend President Obama's events. It is totally worth it. They have to issue tickets so that they can have some order and control. What is so laughable is that Romney and the like trot out these economic stats as if Obama was supposed to have waved some magic wand to get this country out of the manure that the Republlicans got us into. Remember that folks! Eight years of Republican management put this country on the brink and President Obama had to deal with that plus a Republican congress that did zero to help. So, take some responsibility Republicans, since you are always touting responsible government!
Walt Kowalski September 9, 2012 at 09:05 pm
Remind us again what the Democratic controlled Congress did up until 2010 after the Teabagger Revolution....not much more than after the Republicans controlled the House - nothing! They're all full of it.
Dan Wallace September 9, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Viki, I do not think the prsident can lower the levels of the ocean. Thats a shallow reason to vote for president of the United States.

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