Crowds At Obama Inaugration Hit Only 20% Of Predicted Numbers

The media had been predicting as many as 5 million people at Obama’s inauguration:

WASHINGTON — The Washington area’s transit system is bracing for record ridership on Inauguration Day and says passengers should expect extraordinarily long lines and packed railcars and buses.
With hotels filling up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia for the Jan. 20 swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama, public transportation will be critical for getting crowds to and from the nation’s capital, officials said.
‘We recognize the eyes of the world will be on us,’’ Metro chief John Catoe said Thursday. ‘‘Will it be the largest crowd ever? We think so.’’
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has said Obama’s inauguration could lead to an unprecedented turnout of 3 million to 5 million people.

The actual turnout? Only about 20% – 30% of official predictions:

The Associated Press, using crowd photographs and comparisons with past events, estimated the turnout at more than 1 million.

If this were a Republican being sworn in we’d see headlines like “Inauguration crowd fails to meet expectations.” But this is The One we’re talking about, so we’ll just forget about all that earlier hype.