John Edwards' campaign officials cast today's endorsement by the Iowa council of the Service Employees International Union as a boost in the state that kicks off the presidential campaign in January.

"SEIU is going to be a major player in Iowa on behalf of Sen. John Edwards," Edwards's campaign manager David Bonior told reporters, The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill reports.

SEIU has around 2,000 members in the state. Last week the national union - which claims 1.9-million members - decided not to make a national endorsement in the primaries.

Heading into the 2004 caucuses, SEIU endorsed Democrat Howard Dean. The former Vermont governor and then-U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri locked up most union endorsements that year. Each finished behind Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Edwards.

Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, Edwards' state campaign director, said this year's SEIU endorsement will be a big help.

"Two thousand members and their families will make a great difference to us on caucus night," she told reporters.