Presidential pigskin: candidates and football

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. strikes the “Heisman” pose while holding Earl Campbell’s Heisman trophy, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

There’s something about presidential candidates and football, the throw of the pigskin – often on the tarmac to a jet to another campaign stop – that seems like a prerequisite to earning a trip to the Oval Office. It is the most popular sport in America, after all, so enjoy this gallery of candidates and footballs.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a football on the tarmac of Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Akron, Ohio, Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Romney was met at the airport by his vice presidential running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the football was handed to him by Ryan’s son Charlie. Romney did not throw the football. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

First Lady Michelle Obama strikes the Heisman pose while greeting Dallas Cowboy football players, from left, Miles Austin, DeMarcus Ware, and Felix Jones at the Kleberg Rylie Recreation Center in Dallas, Texas, Feb. 10, 2012. The players joined Mrs. Obama and chefs from past seasons of “Top Chef” for the “Schools and Chefs Working Together” cooking competition to help promote the “Let’s Move!” initiative. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry falls with the ball 25 August, 2005 as he plays football with members of the Green Bay West High School Wild Cats in Green Bay, Winsconsin. Kerry stopped by the field where the team was practicing while on a campaign tour. (HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images)

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., tosses a football to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., foreground, on the tarmac at the Albuquerque Airport in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, July 10, 2004. They were traveling to Raleigh, N.C. for a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Bush pretends to throw a football that he was asked to autograph before he boards Air Force One at TSTC Airport in Waco, Texas, on Thursday, August 14, 2003. The president is leaving for a two-day trip to California. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore throws a football the length of the inside of Air Force Two just prior to departure from Scranton, Pa., to Chicago, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000. Gore’s passes traveled through the staff and Secret Service seating sections and ended up in the press cabin where they were caught by Sam Myers, director of press advance. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

Bill Clinton and Al Gore get into the act on the campaign trail. (AP Photo)

George H. W. Bush rears back for a big throw. (AP Photo)

President Reagan readies to throw a football to Washington Redskins receiver Ricky Sanders as the Super Bowl XXII champion Redskins visited the White House in Washington on Feb.4 1988. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

presidential candidate Jack Kemp celebrates a pass completion to his former Buffalo Bills teammate, tight end Charlie Ferguson, during a campaign rally with Bob Dole Sunday, Aug 18, 1996, at the old football stadium on the State University of New York campus in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley tosses a football to a campaign staffer as he departs an outdoor rally next to his campaign office at Eagle Square in Concord, N.H., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Obama and Ditka. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)