Obama whistle-stop trip: Going along for the ride

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama strode down the platform with his family, greeted the conductor, and boarded the Philadelphia train bound for Washington, an ordinary scene that belied the extraordinary significance of the ride.

The 137-mile journey from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C. -- where Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday -- retraces the train route taken by his hero Abraham Lincoln as he traveled to assume the presidency in 1861.

Obama is planning to stop in Wilmington, Delaware; and Baltimore, Maryland, along the way. In Wilmington, spirits were high as crowds shivering people gathered, sang and celebrated waiting for the train to pull in.

The train will slow down as it passes through Claymont, Delaware, and Edgewood, Maryland, for what's called a "slow roll," so that Obama can wave at residents who gather near the tracks.

CNN's Best Political Team was there for the ride:

ABOARD THE OBAMA EXPRESS IN PHILDELPHIA:

JASON CARROLL: President-elect Obama kicked off his whistle-stop tour to the nation's capital in the City of Brotherly Love.

Some 200 invited guests were on hand at the 30th Street Station. What was immediately clear after speaking to a number of them was that they weren't sure why they had been chosen to be invited. Others had a pretty good idea.

Heather Wehr and Talia Kasic, two 20-year-old Obama volunteers, told me they were chosen because they had volunteered on the campaign in its early stages.

Chosen to accompany the Obamas were 51 people, including 16 families from 15 states. Mark Dowell, a third-generation autoworker from Louisville, Kentucky, believes he was chosen because he had spoken with Obama about surviving in the auto industry.

In his speech Obama explained why he was bringing the group on the tour, saying, "I will be taking with me some of the men and women I met along the way. Americans from every corner of this country, whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause, whose dreams and struggles have become my own."

One of the more excited people was 6-year-old Victor Cozzone from suburban Philadelphia, who was able to shake the next president's hand. Victor said he was hoping to give the next president a fist-bump.

CANDY CROWLEY: This is not just a march through history and the Obama team certainly wants the Lincolnesque sort of symbolism to catch on.

But this is also a way to roll into Washington and try to keep that enthusiasm that Barack Obama saw on the campaign trail because there are so many tough times ahead.

The themes he wants to fit here are not just, "We need to get that spirit of patriotism, and we need to go back to what our forefathers believed in." He also said at the end of his speech let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.

So it's the sort of commonality -- I'm going to need you -- and certainly he is, even though out there if they are not people who vote on Capitol Hill, they are certainly people who can pressure Capitol Hill.

And as he looked ahead and talked about the frustrations and the setbacks that are coming, he wants this train ride to begin that role and say, "I know the election is over, but you [have] got to stick with me because I need it."

So it's a dual trip, a little history and certainly pushing very far into the future

source:CNN