Washington (AFP) - From axe-throwing to curling and the promise of a snowboarding trip, candidates dipped their toes into local sports in this week's offbeats from the White House campaign trail.

Amy and curling

Curling, a popular pastime in Minnesota and Wisconsin's sub-zero winters, is starting to stir passions in Iowa too, a key state in next month's Democratic primaries.

Senator Elizabeth Warren may be able to count on support from US women's soccer legend Megan Rapinoe, but Amy Klobuchar enlisted a different sport star to endorse her candidacy: Phill Drobnick, coach of the US curling team and a 2018 Olympic gold medalist, was set to campaign for the Minnesota senator at the Des Moines curling club in Iowa on Friday.  

Senators forced to forego the campaign trail and attend the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump have been banned from taking any electronic devices into the Senate chamber, instead having to stow any tablets, cell phones or other portable devices in cubby holes outside. 

That gave Democrat Cory Booker the chance to play on the fact that so many Apple devices were being left outside -- in his own rack he left an actual apple on display.

Obama scales Trump Tower

Donald Trump may have his eye on the campaign for re-election in November, but he still cannot help looking back at the 2016 vote that brought him to the White House.

In a tweet that raised a laugh from Fox News anchor and stalwart Trump defender Sean Hannity, the president shared a photoshopped image of his predecessor Barack Obama hanging by a suction pad from a window of Trump Tower in New York, and staring in through binoculars as the real estate magnate poses inside for a picture. 

The image referred to unsubstantiated accusations by the president that the Obama administration spied on him during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Snowboard with Tulsi

Money being the fuel that drives election bids, the candidates are pulling out all the stops to keep their campaigns well-oiled. 

To that end, Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, has been auctioning off a snowboarding trip with her, promising fans a chance to "shred it on the slopes with Tulsi before New Hampshire's primary election day. Flights and accommodation included."

For those less inclined to shredding with the Army veteran and fitness fanatic, there will also be an opportunity to "mingle with Tulsi in the lodge" after she hits the New Hampshire slopes. 

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang has discovered a slightly different way to blow off steam after the pressure of the campaign trail: hurling axes in Osage, Iowa.

The start-up financier and philanthropist was spotted having a wild time wielding two axes and tossing them at a wooden target  -- and scoring a bull's-eye, at which the Democratic hopeful performed a quick victory dance. 

But trailing at just four percent in the polls, Yang still has a long way to go if he wants to repeat his victory dance when the Democratic nominating process kicks off in Iowa on February 3.