FAIRBURY, Neb. -- Tom Osborne the congressional candidate walked quickly
toward the side of the street where a parade watcher pressed a radio against
his ear.
"What's the score?" Osborne yelled Saturday as he paused from waving at
the dozens of onlookers sitting on lawn chairs along the parade route.
"It's still zero-zero in the first quarter," the man shouted, barely
pulling the radio away from his ear to respond to the famed former Nebraska
football coach.
As the top-ranked Cornhuskers played No. 23 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.,
Osborne was courting voters in Nebraska's 3rd District House race.
It was a tough day to be a political candidate in Nebraska -- especially for
Osborne. As he tried to focus on handshakes and waves, Nebraska was on its way
to a 27-24 overtime victory.
Before the kickoff and the start of the city's annual Germanfest parade 30
minutes later, Osborne walked into a restaurant where about 100 people had
gathered around televisions to watch the game.
Osborne was greeted with applause, camera flashes and the outstretched pens
of fans asking the coach who led the Huskers to three national titles in the
1990s to sign footballs, books, T-shirts, even napkins.
But when the game started, their interest immediately turned to the field.
Even Osborne abruptly stopped a conversation with a woman requesting an
autograph and stared at a big screen TV as Notre Dame returned the opening
kickoff.
Few people noticed when Osborne left minutes later.
"I hate to miss the game," he said from the parade. "But people keep
hollering the scores at me when I am not around a radio or TV."
Osborne, a Republican, is challenging real-estate developer Rollie Reynolds
for the seat left by retiring GOP Rep. Bill Barrett in an overwhelmingly
Republican district. The ex-coach had planned to catch the second half of the
game on his car radio as he drove to another campaign appearance.
"Everyone was worried that not many people would show up and instead stay
at home to watch the game on TV," said Shana Rickstrew, who donned a
Cornhusker T-shirt during the parade. "But I think more people came out
because Tom Osborne was here."
They came out but were well equipped: Many spectators as well as parade
participants carried radios or wore radio head sets or never left their cars
where the radios were tuned to the game.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
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