It’s an understatement to say the election of Barack Obama, and his coming inauguration, have drawn enormous attention. That’s especially true in Obama’s homestate of Illinois, where people started making plans to see Obama take the oath of office months before he was even elected. In Chicago, congressional leaders have been flooded with requests for tickets to the inauguration, and questions about how to get to Washington DC for the big day. As it turns out, a lot of those requests have been directed to the office of one Congressman—and onto the desk of one person.

Tumia Romero is Deputy Chief of Staff for Congressman Danny Davis. Her desk is in his office on Chicago’s west side. And these days she has three phones on it.

ROMERO: I have two cell phones.

One of those cell phones reserved for political activities.

ROMERO: And then I have a Congressional phone for Congressional work.

There’s also her regular office phone.  One, Two,Three.

ROMERO: It’s not unusual for me to have all three phones ringing at the same time.

Generally, things are busy, but not like this. See a while ago, Davis told Romero he wanted her to organize a bus trip to the inauguration. Pretty soon word got out—looking for a bus to DC, call Davis’ office. Other congressional representatives started referring people to Romero, and the calls started pouring in.

ROMERO: When we first started it was probably about 500 a day to this office.
CALHOUN: 500?!
ROMERO: I mean the phones were ringing off the hook.

Romero says it’s been this way for months.

CALHOUN: Just to put some numbers on things, can you tell me how many emails you’re getting about this on a daily basis?
ROMERO: Maybe about 200 emails a day.
CALHOUN: What about voicemails?
ROMERO: Oh, I have to have one of my interns just empty out my voicemails like every 15, 20 minutes.

Originally, the bus trip wasn’t supposed to be too big. Davis told Romero to book a couple of buses—mostly for volunteers who’d worked for Obama with Davis.

ROMERO: We started with 2 buses,

That did not last.

ROMERO: We’re now at 10 buses.

Originally Davis’ reserved 30 hotel rooms in Washington. The trip now includes 7 hotels in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Another indicator of the overwhelming demand: Davis plans to give many of his inauguration tickets away through a public drawing. The waiting list is 12,000 people long. Romero says organizing the drawing for tickets, the hotels, the buses, she’s had a chance to hear the thoughts and emotions that are drawing people from Obama’s homestate to Washington. Romero compares it to the election of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.

ROMERO: You know, when Mayor Washington ran and won, wherever you were at, wherever you were standing, whatever room you were in, you felt a part of it.  That’s what I feel from people, to be there in DC to feel the energy and excitement.

But don’t get the idea that Romero’s job is all feel-good. High demand and limited supply is a recipe for disappointed people. The same afternoon that I stopped by Romero’s office—so did Dr. Sabrina Kendrick.

KENDRICK: You try to do everything right.

Kendrick is clearly disappointed. She booked two spots on the Davis buses, one for her, one for her mother. She says because she signed up early, she thought she’d get first dibs on inauguration tickets.

KENDRICK: I live in the district, I work in the district, I voted for Congressman Davis.

Romero breaks it to Kendrick that she’ll have to try her luck in the drawing for tickets. Gently at first.

ROMERO: At the end of the day, some people are going to be mad, and some are going to be understanding.

And with a little more force, when it becomes necessary.

ROMERO: How do I say this?

Eventually, Kendrick gives up and says she’ll try the public drawing. That drawing is scheduled to be held this Saturday, one day before Romero’s ten buses pull out of Chicago and head to east. Not long after Kendrick leaves, Romero turns to back to check her email and return phonecalls.

ROMERO: Hey it’s Tumia!  How are you doing?
RING

Calls from all three of her very busy phones.