Ed Espinoza, LA’s Superdelegate: Inauguration Bound

Photo by fotonomous via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

LAist likes to think of Democratic National Committee member Ed Espinoza as LA's Superdelegate. We chatted with him last week.

While President-Elect Barack Obama's Inauguration is next week, Washington DC isn't waiting to start the fun. Parties kick off Thursday, five days before the swearing-in. If you're heading out from LA, LAist hopes you have your hotel reservations booked! Ed Espinoza is going to be there soaking it all up. And no, you can't stay at his house. It's full.

LAist: What do you have to say about January 20th?
Ed Espinoza: Washington is really excited right now. This Inauguration is going to be the biggest one we’ve ever seen. You’re going to see ridiculous sized crowds. It’s like the World Cup or Olympics is coming to DC. Most Inaugurals are one day. This is going to be a week’s worth of festivities and fighting crowds.

If you can’t be at the event you should watch it. Not only is it going to be a great Inauguration but it’ll be history -- a lot of history. There aren’t a lot of times you can watch history and know it.

What’s your plan for the day of the Inauguration?
Because of security perimeter, I probably won’t be able to get off the Metro close to the Capitol. My home is on Capitol Hill, which is only about five blocks from the Capitol. My friends and I will have to walk.

We’ll work our way through the crowd and find a place to watch the swearing-in. After, we’ll walk back home and get to the evening’s festivities, whatever they may be. We’ll go out to dinner, have some drinks, and a definitely good time.

The DC City Council voted to extend the last-call from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. during Inauguration week! The Inaugural Committee asked them to reconsider. The City Council held firm, said it was good commerce. That'll make for lots of liquid dinners and liquid breakfasts. Washington is going to get sloppy.

Anyone from California coming with you?
I’m putting up eight people in the house that week. It’s going to be 5 upstairs and 3 downstairs. That's for 2 bathrooms and a 40 gallon water heater. It’s going to be a lot like college, we’ll even have shower schedules.

What will you do that night?
There are 55 Inaugural balls, 45 of them are unofficial. Balls start as early as Thursday (Jan 15) night. I think the last ball is Thursday (Jan 22) after the Inaugural. There are more Inaugural balls than there were college football bowl games! When you think about how may bowl games there are, that’s a lot.

I have tickets for the California Bash (Jan 18.) It’s a party thrown by the California Democratic Party, and isn’t an official ball. That’s a bash being held the Sunday before the swearing-in at The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It seems like everybody from California is going to that one. That’s going to be a lot of fun.

On Saturday night the DNC is hosting a party for outgoing DNC Chairman Howard Dean at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I've managed to obtain tickets to one of the official balls that President Obama will be at on Tuesday night. We'll be at the Western States ball at the Washington Convention Center, which means I've got to go find a tuxedo now. Plus the big concert is Sunday with U2, Springsteen and Stevie Wonder.

What are some tips for Californian attendees?
A lot of people coming in from California are worried that they won’t have the right wardrobe. Even though a lot of Californians have thinner blood Washington isn’t arctic. It will help if you’ve got a snug pair of thermals that you can wear under your pants, and/or under your shirt. If you layer a wool coat over everything else you’ll really be fine. But this is one of those times where we’d be thankful for a little bit of global warming. The last time I went to an Inauguration it was zero degrees.

Any last words?
Right now is a good time to be a Democrat.

Photo courtesy Ed Espinoza/used with permission
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You can read Ed Espinoza, as Mr. Super, on the DemConWatch blog.