A system using numbers on a spread sheet is how East Bay Congressman George Miller randomly selected two constituents for a pair of the hottest tickets in the nation.
"We started getting phone calls before the primaries when the election season opened at the beginning of the year and it hasn't stopped since," Miller said.
Jeff Baccus, 37, entered the on-line drawing on a whim, to surprise his wife, an ardent Obama supporter.
"I think it was the first presidential candidate that spoke to both of us," Baccus said. The messages really resonated."
For each presidential inauguration members of Congress receive a total of 250,000 tickets. This time estimates are that 1 to 4 million people may show up in the nation's capitol wanting to witness history.
Baccus says this is the most exciting day he has had in the past two and a half years; the day he married his wife Heather.
"We were going to watch it at home on TV," Baccus said. "We'll be less comfortable but have better seats."
Baccus and his wife will stay with relatives in Washington D.C.
The other ticket winner is a woman from Richmond. She was not home when the congressman called; he left the message of a lifetime.
