A crowd turned out in monterey

The Herald's Larry Parsons at the Democratic headquarters in Monterey: They expected 30 or 40 for bagels and coffee and history at the Democratic headquarters in downtown Monterey to view the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
About 100 people crammed into the Bonifacio Plaza party storefront office, lining the walls, sitting cross-legged on the floor beneath the C-Span screen from Washington, D.C., and cheering with a restrained excxuberance as the 44th president took office.
Some wore Obama buttons, shirts and hats. Some held squirming children in their laps or on their shoulders. Some strode in slowly on walkers. Many sat erect, as if at attention, in the metal folding chairs.
To a person, they all wore slight smiles, and a few dabbed at their eyes when Obama stumbled through the oath of office. The crowded room was pin-drop quiet as he began his first speech as president at 9:07 a.m.