Two SEANC members have joined the SEIU board.

Executive Director Dana Cope and President Linda Rouse Sutton of the State Employees Association of North Carolina were elected to the Service Employees International Union's executive board during the latter group's 2008 convention.

SEANC, which represents more than 55,000 state workers, joined together with SEIU in May as part of a multi-year effort to strengthen labor laws in North Carolina.

"North Carolina state employees finally have a voice at the national level to protect and improve the valuable services they provide," Cope said in a statement.

The board members has 23 vice presidents and 37 board members who will lead the union for its 2008 to 2012 term.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the quote. 

So what’s next for John Edwards?

Edwards has given no indication of his plans, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. Rob Christensen offers his take on some of the more widely discussed possibilities:

Could Edwards be a vice presidential candidate again? Most political observers think it’s unlikely.

There is little evidence that Edwards helped as Sen. John Kerry’s running mate on the national ticket in 2004. Kerry has said he regretted choosing Edwards, according to political consultant Bob Shrum. Kerry gave credence to that view when he endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in South Carolina, a move that seemed designed to hurt Edwards when he was most vulnerable.

Finally, it’s not clear that Edwards would be interested in a vice presidential slot - been there, done that.

Who might Edwards endorse? The most likely candidate is Obama.

Edwards and Obama shared many of the same supporters, and both portrayed themselves as change agents, while depicting Clinton as the politics of the past. Many of Edwards’ supporters might see an endorsement of Clinton as a betrayal. The gossip is that Clinton and Edwards aren’t particularly fond of each other, although they were observed chatting amicably in the holding room after the recent Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach.

“It’s unlikely that Edwards would cut a deal with Clinton if there is going to be an endorsement or Cabinet post,” said Peter Francia, a political science professor at East Carolina University. “It would come in an Obama administration with an Obama endorsement.”

Could Edwards be part of a Democratic administration? Edwards could end up as a Cabinet secretary, especially if his endorsement helps a candidate.

Speculative gossip -- and that is all it is -- has centered on the Department of Justice, where he could be a crusading attorney general and bring anti-trust suits against corporations, and the Department of Labor, where he could champion the conditions of working people.

Edwards would be a high-profile appointment that would be welcomed by certain segments of the party, including trial lawyers, organized labor and anti-poverty groups. But Edwards would be an independent power base within the administration -- something that a Democratic president may not want.

Whether Edwards would be interested in a Washington job is another question. But a Cabinet post would allow Edwards to remain a player in big-time politics.

“Cabinet posts are often a polyglot of various sentiments of the party, often quite small,” said David Rohde, a Duke University political science professor who has written extensively about presidential politics. “He has spoken for and received support of a significant portion of the Democratic voters - considerably more than a bunch of others who would be considered for a Cabinet post. I could imagine him being invited to be in the Cabinet.”

Would he make a bid to return to the U.S. Senate? Edwards did not seek re-election to his Senate seat in 2004. There is little indication that Edwards was enamored with the working of the Senate during his one term. He has also moved sharply to his political left while running for president, making it more difficult to win a Senate race in North Carolina.

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.

John Edwards says he is getting another labor endorsement.

The Edwards campaign says the Iowa state council of the Service Employees International Union will announce today that it is endorsing Edwards for the Democratic nomination for president.

“SEIU is at forefront of the fight to make work pay and provide economic security to hardworking families. I have proudly stood with them on the frontlines of the fight for working Americans for years, and I am honored to earn their support today,” Edwards said in a statement.

"Together, I believe we can fix the broken system in Washington that has been rigged by corporate interests, and we can make this country work for regular Americans again.”

Elizabeth Edwards is stepping up criticism of Sen. Hillary Clinton's support for universal health care.

Edwards, the wife of presidential candidate John, claims Hillary and her husband Bill abandoned their effort for a universal health care plan in the 1990s to concentrate on pushing for ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Rob Christensen reports.

"They lost the fight in 1993, pulled it out because they wanted to use their political capital to get NAFTA passed as opposed to universal health care in '94," she told The New York Daily News.

She said Clinton's health care plan is nearly identical to the one her husband unveiled early this year, with one exception: Clinton would negotiate with the insurance companies.

"We think that's the wrong direction to go," Edwards said of negotiations.

Elizabeth Edwards, who is fighting cancer, has been hammering away at Clinton's health care plan since the New York senator introduced it last week.

Tying health care to NAFTA also has the advantage of helping Edwards with the labor vote which he is avidly courting.

John Edwards is in Chicago this afternoon to address the Change to Win labor federation, which includes such major labor unions as the Teamsters.