Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Jed Boal ReportingHundreds, perhaps thousands, will get to see the president when he steps off Air Force One tonight. The free tickets for the President's arrival disappeared about as quickly as they arrived. If you want to see the Commander in Chief tonight, your best bet is on KSL-5.
The phones rang all day in the offices of Senator Orrin Hatch, even though the tickets are long gone; they went within an hour.
Heather Barney, Spokesperson for Senator Orrin Hatch: "People really want to see the president. They want to see Air Force One land. They want to be in the presence of our president."
The White House takes the lead on the arrival and typically does not put out a lot of information in advance. The White House sent these tickets to Utah's congressional delegation late yesterday. The offices of Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett each got 200 tickets. Representative Chris Cannon's office got 100, Representative Rob Bishop's office isn't sure exactly how many it got. Democratic Representative Jim Matheson got 25.
It wasn't exactly bipartisan distribution, but no one had to declare party affiliation to get tickets and Matheson does not question the distribution.
Rep. Jim Matheson/(D) Utah: "It was really something that happened so quickly at the 11th hour that we're just happy to have tickets to give constituents. And I think everyone is going to have a good time."
The White House would not say what the President will do. He may speak and shake hands, he may wave and get in his car.
Heather Barney/Spokesperson for Senator Orrin Hatch: "When the president did visit a year ago, the only thing the country saw was the protesters. So people are calling and saying they don't want that to be the only voice that's heard this time."
We expect the President to land shortly before 9:00. We'll air that and stay with it depending on what the President does.
