Edwards and Romney line up support of key constituencies

Recent reports had indicated that the Religious Right was no longer content with merely opposing Rudy Giuliani, it wanted to better influence the primary process by coalescing around one candidate -- and that it had chosen Mitt Romney.

This was most evident today in the surprising news that Robert R. Taylor, the dean of fundamentalist Bob Jones University, was endorsing Romney's candidacy. This is especially significant because Taylor was believed to be more susceptible than other religious leaders to Romney's Mormon faith. In the past, he had called Catholicism and Mormonism "cults which call themselves Christian."

This is truly a dream scenario for Mitt Romney. His past is just as problematic than Giuliani's (witness his 1994 Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy), but the Right has cut him all the slack in the world. Why? Because Romney today embraces the pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay rhetoric with no reservation. The same cannot be said of Giuliani. So while conservative leaders distrust Romney, they have no where else to turn since Thompson and Huckabee are not for now in the same tier.

Meanwhile on the Democratic side, John Edwards had been drifting into irrelevance in recent weeks, as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been increasingly engaging each other, portraying the race as a two-way dogfight. Edwards desperately needed some news that would put him back on the political map -- and he got it today.

Two days after it was revealed that the local Iowa SEIU union was about to endorse him, Edwards lined up SEIU support from nine other states! Remember: the national SEIU refused to endorse last week, freeing up its local branches to endorse state-by-state. So today, the following SEIU locals endorsed Edwards: California, Washington State, Michigan, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia, and Oregon. Put together, these unions totalize more than a million members. California's alone has 656,000.

The Edwards campaign in Iowa can now benefit from their support, clearly boosting his campaign machine. This massive endorsement wave also bolsters Edwards's argument that he is the most labor-friendly candidate and that he is the best to address issues of poverty, work conditions, and health care.

Meanwhile, Obama received the support of the Illinois and Indiana branches -- though they cannot get involved in the Iowa caucuses (though it will obviously be very hard for this to be policed...).