A 2009 Inauguration survivor group formed

This is surely a U.S. presidential inauguration first: an inauguration survivors group!

An article in the Los Angels Times is titled, Inauguration visitors who were trapped underground air grievances.”

People with purple tickets to Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony squeeze into a tunnel beneath the National Mall. Some later said the entrance gate to the purple area was closed, seemingly abandoned by security personnel

Many holders of purple tickets spent hours in a tunnel under the National Mall instead of witnessing Obama's swearing-in. Officials are investigating what went wrong.

Even as Dianne Feinstein (pictured) apologized to the distressed visitors they formed a survivors group on Facebook called Survivors of the Purple Tunnel of Doom. As of Thursday evening there were 3,950 members.

Diane Feinstein, a Democratic Senator from California, is head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which was responsible for the event.

It is reported that Feinstein is planning to run for Governor of California when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger must step down due to term limits.

The inauguration fiasco will give Feinstein opponents useful ammunition pointing out her questionable organizational skills.

Link to the LA Times report here.