Edwards to Receive Iowa SEIU Endorsement

I talked about this on Taylor Marsh’s show Wednesday (in case you didn’t know, I’m Taylor’s regular Wednesday guest), and now NBC News has the tip. Former Sen. John Edwards will receive the endorsement of the SEIU’s Iowa Local Monday:

At 5:30pm Monday ET in Iowa city, John Edwards will get SEIU-Iowa nod and the endorsement of other state affiliates, according to multiple sources. The endorsement, which the Edwards campaign refused to comment on, is key because it means that SEIU members and resources from other state organizations that endorse Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama (think Illinois and New York SEIU chapters) cannot help their respective Iowa campaigns, according to SEIU rules.

No campaign needed this organizational boost more than Edwards since he financially can’t keep up with Clinton and Obama in Iowa.

Iowa Independent was having a somewhat difficult time getting a hold of the SEIU here of late, which increased my suspicions.

Getting the Iowa SEIU endorsement but not the national one might serve Edwards’s campaign better than Gov. Howard Dean’s national endorsement from 2004. The 2004 endorsement resulted in attacks from other candidates that Dean’s campaign was shipping in “orange hats” from out of state to support his campaign here, rather than relying on grassroots support in-state. This way, Edwards gets the benefit of local SEIU support (which lends credibility to, among other things, his health care plan) without the “orange hat” problem.