MinnPost photo by Judith Yates Borger

Husniyah Dent

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The line outside the Hart Building just down from the Capitol, where Sen. Amy Klobuchar and others have offices,  was more than an hour long with temperatures in the low 20s Monday as people waited patiently to get in to pick up tickets to the inauguration.

Klobuchar ran a lottery to distribute her tickets, and those from former Sen. Norm Coleman. Those who didn't win the lottery waited in another line for any tickets that might not be picked up by the 4 p.m. deadline.

Three of those waiting were Husniyah  Dent, from Richfield, and Davaline and Timmy Walker and their 4-year-old daughter, Jasmin, from Anoka.  Dent first heard about Barack Obama after he spoke in 2004 at the Democratic convention. Dent volunteered extensively for his campaign in Minnesota.

His election has been very important to her and her family, Dent said. Singers and rappers had always said there never would be a black president, but they've been proven wrong, and it will make a difference, Dent believes, in how people view black people. 

"People put blacks in a bubble and say they just act this way, even if they've seen the Cosby show," she said. "Now Obama will give them a real person to look at who has the smarts to come out with speeches and has the smarts to govern."

Davaline Walker agreed, and said she and her husband had brought their daughter to the inauguration because she is a fan of Obama.

"I thank God for being here," she said.