LANCASTER EAGLE GAZETTE by Deirdre Shesgreen Gannett

“It was an amazing experience ... to be able to look up and be like, ‘That’s Barack Obama and that’s Joe Biden and that’s Kelly Clarkson,’” said Minich, who arrived on the National Mall at 4:45 a.m. Monday with her father.

“We wanted to get the best seats we could,” said her dad, Jon Minich, a railroad engineer. After Riley became involved in the campaign and then snagged tickets to the inauguration, they couldn’t pass up the chance to go to Washington, D.C., for the festivities, he said.

“My wife and I both felt we needed to make sure she got the reward for all the hard work she’s done,” Minich said of his daughter, who helped knock on doors and call voters.

They weren’t the only ones reveling in Obama’s win in Ohio, which helped catapult him to a second term in the White House. Mae Leake, treasurer and education chair at the Fremont Chapter of the NAACP, said she promised Chris Redfern, head of the Ohio Democratic Party, that she would help win Sandusky County for Obama, despite its GOP tilt in previous elections.

“He said if you do it ... I’ll get you tickets to the inauguration,” she said. “We did it, and so that’s how we got tickets.”

Leake was among the hundreds of Ohio residents who crowded onto the National Mall Monday to witness Obama’s second inauguration and hear his speech. Some arrived when it still was dark — bundled up in scarves, hats, thick coats — to make sure they would have a good view.

“You just want to pinch yourself. It was like, ‘wow,’” said Grace Cherrington, of Pataskala, program director for the Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus. “I never thought I would do this.”

“It was awesome,” said Jeremy VanMeter, a 24-year-old from Sugar Grove who served as one of Obama’s electors in Ohio. “It was such a historic occasion. ... Just being there in the moment, it was very much an honor.”

For Leake, this was the second time seeing Obama sworn in, and it didn’t have the same historic feel as when he became the first African-American president in 2009. However, it was no less thrilling or inspiring.

“His speech today really drove everything home, with him talking about how everyone in America has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and how we all have to work together ... to make things happen,” she said. “It was just like an affirmation of what Americans want.”

Not everyone was equally impressed, Rep. Steve Stivers, R-15th District, said the next four years are going to be a challenge, and that Republicans were ready to start working on the issues dividing them this week.

“I was glad to be there and see a peaceful transition of power,” said Rep. Steve Stivers, “It’s what separates us form so many other countries around the world.”

Stivers said he was glad to see the president talking about how important the decisions were going to be in the coming days.

“But I was a little disappointed in that he used every liberal talking point during the speech,” Stivers said.

Stivers said a debate was just beginning and the Republican-lead House of Representatives was going to try and pass a measure that would require the houses of Congress to pass a budget before the elected representatives could get paid.

Other Ohioans were more taken with Obama’s remarks.

“He hit all the right notes,” Cherrington also . She said she hopes Obama focuses on “settling this craziness with the debt” and bringing American troops home, among other things, in his second term.

VanMeter said he hoped to see “a comprehensive jobs plan that focuses on rebuilding part of our country because the infrastructure is just way behind.”

Eagle-Gazette reporter Carl Burnett Jr. contributed to the story.