More than 1000 visitors swarmed the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa to line up for tickets to Wednesday's town hall meeting with President Barack Obama, but many were unsuccessful as the front of the line swelled considerably Tuesday morning when people joined friends who had acted as place-holders.

Some people began waiting as early as 20 hours before tickets became available at 10 a.m. Tuesday 

Tents and sleeping bags lined the pavement area just outside the building which housed the exclusive tickets. The scene could have easily served as the background for a skid row documentary or an outdoor rock concert.  

The line snaked around empty fairground restaurants, wound around one corner of the parking lot, then looped back towards the parking lot entrance.

Visitors in ear muffs and parkas huddled in thick blankets in the chilly 50 degree air in the pre-dawn hours. 

Spur-of-the-moment outbursts of "Yes we can" erupted periodically from the people in the line.

Poor crowd control, however, in the hours leading up to the moment when organizers would open the ticket window, led many to lose their temper when late-comers began to sneak in line. No numbers or wristbands were offered to anyone in line to ensure a spot. While security was present, the crowd was not organized into a single-file line.

The "Yes we can!" cheers soon turned into jeers of "No cutters!" when an amorphous crowd toward the front of the line began to grow and overnight campers who had waited for hours began to notice new faces in front of them.

Some were told by security that it wasn't against the law to cut in line.

After the ticket window opened, the line inched along slowly as only a few guests were allowed in the building at a time.  Before noon, the last tickets were gone, and visitors were told they could put their name on a limited wait list.  

The overnight campers had long ago stripped off their parkas and earmuffs and donned floppy hats and sunglasses as the 90 degree heat beat down mercilessly on visitors who still hoped to stand by. 

 

"Dead man walking!" a fellow bystander yelled to his comrades as the line would periodically crawl forward a few feet at a time.

By 1:30 p.m., hundreds of visitors who had stood by were finally turned away from adding their name to the full waiting list. 

The Orange County Register reported that an estimated 1000 tickets were available on Tuesday. It is unclear how many tickets were actually distributed. Each person in line could obtain two tickets. 

The White House press office did not return repeated requests for comment.

Disappointed visitors who had early Tuesday morning counted and recounted the number of visitors in line before them expressed disbelief that they didn't even make the wait list.

"It was so disappointing to be turned around after standing in line for eight hours. It was hurtful," Mission Viejo resident Jennifer Corlett said. Corlett had been waiting for tickets since 4 a.m.  

"People in Orange County are interested in things that President Obama has to say and the plans he has for our country. Hopefully, he will reschedule another town hall meeting in Orange County in the future," Corlett said. 

"Obama's name should not have been associated with this level of disorganization," said Long Beach resident Heather Banks, who had been waiting since 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.  

Obama will hold a second town hall meeting on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in Los Angeles.  A limited number of tickets were available to the public via an online lottery that has since closed.