The current arms race for Democratic presidential hopefuls seems to be over who can fit themselves deepest into Big Labor’s pocket.

• The Associated Press reports: “Democrat Barack Obama told union activists Saturday night that he would walk a picket line as president if organized labor helps elect him in 2008.”
• Sen. Hillary Clinton told Iowa labor activists “I will be the president who signs the employee free choice act.”
• The Economist profiled former Sen. John Edwards, of whom the paper reports: “With roots in the textile mills and strong links to the unions, he is regarded as the most protectionist of the Democratic front-runners—though the margins are narrowing fast as Hillary Clinton stages a retreat from her husband’s embrace of free trade.”

Columnist Ruben Navarette recently examined the real-world cost of Democratic presidential hopefuls bending to union demands:

Imagine being so eager to please the money crowd that you will try to destroy a reform measure that is reasonable and helpful, especially when the help is going to the same folks you claim to represent.

That is what happened recently when the major Democratic presidential candidates made a pilgrimage to the annual convention of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union with 3.2 million members, and – one by one – bashed the No Child Left Behind law.

The Big Payoff to Big Labor is nowhere near done. In fact, the biggest payoff of all may come before you know it.