diff --git a/bin/ansible b/bin/ansible
index 42de6e1d3b5..0f5c668eb84 100755
--- a/bin/ansible
+++ b/bin/ansible
@@ -52,8 +52,6 @@ class Cli(object):
         parser.add_option('-m', '--module-name', dest='module_name',
             help="module name to execute (default=%s)" % C.DEFAULT_MODULE_NAME, 
             default=C.DEFAULT_MODULE_NAME)
-        parser.add_option('-U','--sudo-user', dest='sudo_user', help='desired sudo user (default=root)',
-            default=C.DEFAULT_SUDO_USER)
         options, args = parser.parse_args()
         self.callbacks.options = options        
 
@@ -72,19 +70,19 @@ class Cli(object):
         inventory_manager = inventory.Inventory(options.inventory)
         hosts = inventory_manager.list_hosts(pattern)
         if len(hosts) == 0:
-             print >>sys.stderr, "No hosts matched"
-             sys.exit(1) 
+            print >>sys.stderr, "No hosts matched"
+            sys.exit(1)
         
         sshpass = None
         sudopass = None
-        sudouser = options.sudo_user
         if options.ask_pass:
             sshpass = getpass.getpass(prompt="SSH password: ")
         if options.ask_sudo_pass:
             sudopass = getpass.getpass(prompt="sudo password: ")
+            options.sudo = True
         if options.sudo_user:
-            options.sudo=True
-
+            options.sudo = True
+        options.sudo_user = options.sudo_user or C.DEFAULT_SUDO_USER
         if options.tree:
             utils.prepare_writeable_dir(options.tree)
 
diff --git a/bin/ansible-playbook b/bin/ansible-playbook
index f1263328cf3..b40964c8d55 100755
--- a/bin/ansible-playbook
+++ b/bin/ansible-playbook
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ def main(args):
         sshpass = getpass.getpass(prompt="SSH password: ")
     if options.ask_sudo_pass:
         sudopass = getpass.getpass(prompt="sudo password: ")
+        options.sudo = True
+    if options.sudo_user:
+        options.sudo = True
+    options.sudo_user = options.sudo_user or C.DEFAULT_SUDO_USER
     override_hosts = None
     if options.override_hosts:
         override_hosts = options.override_hosts.split(",")
@@ -77,6 +81,7 @@ def main(args):
             timeout=options.timeout, 
             transport=options.connection,
             sudo=options.sudo,
+            sudo_user=options.sudo_user,
             sudo_pass=sudopass,
             extra_vars=extra_vars
         )
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook.py b/lib/ansible/playbook.py
index b9449bf4266..d664880db55 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ class PlayBook(object):
         runner_callbacks = None,
         stats            = None,
         sudo             = False,
-        sudo_user        = 'root',
+        sudo_user        = C.DEFAULT_SUDO_USER,
         extra_vars       = None):
 
         """
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils.py b/lib/ansible/utils.py
index 92c321ce46e..1b3b355c43c 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils.py
@@ -309,6 +309,8 @@ def base_parser(constants=C, usage="", output_opts=False, runas_opts=False, asyn
     if runas_opts:
         parser.add_option("-s", "--sudo", default=False, action="store_true",
             dest='sudo', help="run operations with sudo (nopasswd)")
+        parser.add_option('-U', '--sudo-user', dest='sudo_user', help='desired sudo user (default=root)',
+            default=None)   # Can't default to root because we need to detect when this option was given
         parser.add_option('-u', '--user', default=constants.DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER,
             dest='remote_user', 
             help='connect as this user (default=%s)' % constants.DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER)