Washington  - President Barack Obama is adding his own touch-down to the ultimate American sporting spectacle, the Super Bowl, later Sunday.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers face down the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa Bay, Obama plans to be watching from the White House - along with 11 centre-left Democrats and four centre-right Republicans.

Right before kickoff at 2300 GMT, Obama is to give an interview to NBC television, putting him in the spotlight along with the pre-game hoopla that has turned the American football championship into a national cultural event.

Obama has already declared himself behind the Steelers, who are attempting to claim a sixth national title, against the underdog Cardinals, who are in the running for the first time ever.

Obama said the Steelers, from the industrial city in western Pennsylvania, were his favourite team next to his hometown Chicago Bears.

There were political angles, too. Arizona is the home state of Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the White House race. Pennsylvania was a key prize in the elections and Steelers owner Dan Rooney, a life-long Republican, switched sides to Obama, helping him take the East Coast state.

"Mr Rooney, the owner, was just an extraordinary supporter during the course of the campaign," Obama said earlier this week.

The Cardinals made a remarkable run against favoured teams to reach the championship following a mediocre 9-7 regular season record.

The Steelers finished the regular reason with a 12-4 record. They have won five championships and played in six Super Bowls.

Obama is making a huge effort to cultivate bipartisan support for the mammoth financial challenges he faces, making an unusual trip to Capitol Hill earlier this week to court Republican support for his economic recovery programme.

His plan cleared the House of Representatives on Wednesday, but without one single Republican vote. Even so, he invited some of them to the White House for cocktails the same evening. dpa