Erie's Chief Fire Inspector Guy Santone, who is monitoring the attendance tonight, said that about 1,250 people are in the MAC as of a few minutes ago.

Santone, who is keeping a count at the one public entrance to the athletic center, said the room will hold about 2,500 people in all.

Any overflow crowd will move to another room on campus, and watch the speech on closed-circuit television, Santone said.

-- Cody Switzer