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Jan 14, 2009 8:10 pm US/Eastern
Obama Likely To Root For Steelers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Barack Obama received support from Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney while on the campaign trail. (File)
KDKA
An avid sports fan, Barack Obama will almost certainly be watching part of this weekend's football championship games.
So who will he be rooting for? KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano says all the evidence points to one easy answer -- the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When it comes to President-elect Obama and the Steelers, it's a mutual love affair.
When Jon Delano first interviewed Obama outside Philadelphia last March, he asked Obama, "When you think Pittsburgh, what comes to mind?"
"Steelers," Obama answered instantly. "You know when I was a kid, we didn't have our own football team. I was growing up in Hawaii. This was back in the early '70s, so the Steelers -- that was my team."
Obama's long-time relationship with the Steelers was solidified when Steelers chairman Dan Rooney -- a Republican -- embraced Obama last April as his candidate for president. It was support that strengthened over the year, like that Road to Change bus tour with Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis.
Rooney himself campaigned hard for Obama up to the end.
"We're in the two minute warning. Franco was here. You remember he won the greatest game in the world in the last two minutes, so we can't mess it up now," Rooney warned folks just before the election.
But in early October, as he campaigned, Obama was worried about Steelers injuries.
"Roethlisberger looks like if he stays healthy that -- and the offensive line can protect him a little bit better -- then they can have a great season, but obviously injuries have hurt," Obama told Delano in a satellite interview. "I still like the Steelers to do some damage in the playoffs."
And Obama always found ways to bring the Steelers in like when Delano asked him whether western Pennsylvania was racist.
"People here they don't care what color you are, what they're trying to figure is who can deliver," said Obama after his last rally in Pittsburgh on October 27. "It's just like the Pittsburgh Steelers -- they don't care what color you are -- they want to make sure you can make the plays."
And unless its his own Chicago Bears, there's no doubt whom the president-elect is rooting for this year.
He said it clearly, "Go Steelers unless you play the Bears."
And, this year, the Bears aren't in the game.
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