Independance, Mo. ? Mary Apple has high hopes for the heart-shaped potato she gave President Obama this month.

Moments after Obama walked on the stage of “The Late Show with David Letterman,” he made a request to Letterman.

“I want to see that heart-shaped potato,” Obama said. Apparently Obama had been listening when Letterman bantered with Apple, who told him about the spud she brought.

Apple, 48, who found the potato in a bag of potatoes in 2007, said it has spanned a line of happy events, including her marriage and those of her two daughters. Her husband, Gary, has nicknamed it “The Love Spud.”

“I’m hoping that it will continue now that the president has the potato,” said Apple, of Independence. “My husband thinks that it might bring civility among Congress.”

Apple told The Examiner in Independence that her cell phone hasn’t stopping ringing since the show.

“You’re just shocked at first that he said that,” Apple said. “You think he’s going to come out wanting to talk about important stuff and politics, but he wanted to see it. I’m not the only one who thinks it’s exciting.”

Apple purchased a bag of organic potatoes in Independence in 2007. She was planning to make a potato salad for her husband’s birthday.

“It was just so weird because it was perfect,” Apple said. “It was like perfect, and I thought, ‘Oh, I can’t eat that.’ It was so cute, and I was showing it to everybody.”

Apple carried it in her purse in a small jewelry box between two pieces of foam to the Letterman show, hoping to share it during the audience show-and-tell segment.

She also brought the potato to the show in September 2007 when she was honeymooning with her husband. She wanted to share it again, but Letterman said the show needed more serious topics with the president being there.

“I think there’s a lot more people out there than we realize that like a funny, quirky kind of a story, and everything’s not all serious with politics in the world,” said Apple.

“It seems weird, though, that the 15 minutes of fame thing can happen to anyone, and it just happens. I’m not sure if it’s an American thing or if it happens in other countries.”