Mike Beson

Barack Obama may have gotten the support of Dick Codey today, the most popular politician in New Jersey, but two other prominent Edwards supporters have gone the Clinton route.

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney and State Sen. Joseph Vitale announced their support for Clinton in a conference call today, burnishing their respective organized labor and health care credentials. They were joined by Mike Beson, the Edwards campaign state director

Vitale, who chairs the Health and Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, said that Clinton has the best plan to provide universal health care.

“I find her approach to helping solve this issue not just inspired but informed. I’m pleased to join her campaign,” said Vitale.

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander

On the day of the Iowa caucuses, the New Jersey state director of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has one immediate strategy, win or lose: on the next morning he’s going to stand up volunteers at different locales: the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, Newark Penn Station, Jersey City. They will be out there waving "Obama" signs, staying visible, shouting, working.

"We were always the candidate talking about change, that message hasn’t changed," says Mark Alexander, 41, seated in his West Orange office on Thursday, composed given the stakes. Obama’s wife said if they didn’t win Iowa, the campaign would be finished.

"Fundamentally," says Alexander, "we are content that we are offering something the American people really want."

As Obama resists the Tom Cruise temptation to leap out of Oprah's stuffed chair in excitement over Iowa poll numbers that show him with a slight lead, and establishment darling Clinton searches for a way to generate vitality beyond the marble pillars of officialdom, former Sen. John Edwards remains a statistically relevant presence, at least in Iowa.

"Edwards is not done," insisted Peter Woolley, executive director of Fairleigh Dickinson's PublicMind poll. "The fat lady hasn't sung. He's still running third. If one month before the Iowa caucus, it's as close as it is, you're doing very well. But the bad sign about Edwards is his level of support has been pretty static. He's not moving the needle."

In the Northeast, Edwards' presidential campaign ravenously pursues good news, and finds little. The fact that the one-term senator and former vice-presidential nominee emerged the winner at an informal caucus in Roselle Park on Friday belies the fact that Clinton's supporters bolstered Edwards rather than get seared by the victory chants of their prime tormentor, Team Obama, which placed second.