Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) credits boxing champ Manny Pacquiao with helping him win reelection and has found a way to return the favor.
Reid helped Pacquiao set up a private lunch meeting with President Obama at the White House on Tuesday.
Reid said he tries ?not to bother the president? but pushed for a meeting with Pacquiao because of his popularity among Filipino-Americans across the country.
Reid gave Pacquiao a tour of the Senate floor Tuesday morning and praised him during a floor speech.
?He?s an ambitious young man with a closet full of championship belts and a promising political career already under his belt,? said Reid, himself a former amateur boxer. ?I?m most gratified that he?s a friend of Nevada?s, where his sport is a major player in our economic arena. He?s someone I really admire.?
Pacquiao, who has captured boxing titles in eight different weight divisions, is also a congressman in the Philippines.
Pacquiao campaigned with Reid a few days before Election Day 2010 to rally an estimated 80,000 Filipino-Americans in Nevada.
?We had a wonderful crowd,? said Reid. ?It was a big shot in the arm.?
Asked if Pacquiao helped secure his victory over Republican Sharron Angle, Reid said ?sure.?
Pacquiao told The Los Angeles Times in November that he helped Reid overcome a late deficit in the polls.
“[Reid] was behind 4 percent in the polls before I got out there,” Pacquiao said. “There’s a lot of Filipinos in Las Vegas.”
