GEORGE W. BUSH and CARL PETERSON

While it might be a stretch to put a political spin on the resignation of Carl Peterson, the Kansas City Chiefs president and the American president share more than just a lame-duck status.

Mr. Peterson, who will leave the National Football League team after the season's final two games, stood as a prominent booster of George W. Bush, and the two got together in Kansas City and elsewhere over the years. Now, the two chief executives are heading out the door at about the same time.

Federal Election Commission documents show that Mr. Peterson gave $2,000 to the Republican's presidential campaign during the 2000 election cycle, and another $1,500 during the 2004 reelection bid.

In August 2004, President Bush visited the Chiefs training camp in River Falls, Wis., at Mr. Peterson's invitation. The Chiefs' boss made reference on that day to his team visiting the White House after winning the Super Bowl the coming season.

"Let's hope that in early winter, like in February, you are where you're supposed to be and we're where we're supposed to be and we can come and do this again," Mr. Peterson told the president.

History records that Mr. Bush won and the Chiefs did not.

Mr. Peterson attended a Bush economic speech in Kansas City in September 2003 and, during an episode of "Hard Knocks" featuring the Chiefs, famously tricked the president into buying a team hat while the two sat in a Parkville diner during a 2007 visit.

The Chiefs chief also rubbed elbows with the second half of the ticket; when Dick Cheney campaigned in Kansas City at a fundraiser for Congressman Sam Graves in April 2004, Mr. Peterson did the introductions.

During the latter portion of their tenures, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Peterson saw sagging approval ratings. Nothing definitive on who came out on the bottom. Mr. Bush had a shoe thrown at him. To listen to the sports-talk stations these days, it seems likely Mr. Peterson would have had worse thrown his way.