With the Iowa caucus result very much in doubt, Hillary Rodham Clinton can’t return to New Hampshire before the caucus vote but is sending the next best thing.

  Former President Bill Clinton returns for an unidentified campaign stop(s) on Saturday.

   Like it or not, Clinton may need more than the rest a comeback should she fail to win next Tuesday’s Hawkeye State vote.

   As we’ve noted before, Bill has clearly helped her here but some of his off-message comments have surely done less good.

   These include branding primary rival Barack Obama a rookie too risky to take a chance on and that it would “be a miracle” if his wife won Iowa.

    Okay there’s lowering expectations and there’s demoralizing your own troops on the ground stuck in the midst of trench warfare.

    You can probably count on him staying all positive, all Hillary on this trip.

    The New York Times added today a pivotal wrinkle to the connection between Democrat John Edwards and the 527 committee promoting his record and issues.

     They uncovered an e-mail a Washington state SEIU leader had sent to state counterparts that references contact with Edwards campaign officials and plans for a “serious 527 structure.”

   The ubiquitous Mark Halperin of Time posted the e-mail on his must-read, The Page blog. Here’s that link.

http://thepage.time.com/e-mail-on-seiu-for-edwards-meeting-details/

    An Edwards campaign spokesman insists once talk went beyond endorsement officials there ceased communication as legally they can’t talk to any group orchestrating a third-party, 527 organization.

   The 527 at issue, Alliance for a Better America, paid for a statewide mailing here last week and is bankrolling $1.3 million on pro-Edwards ads on radio and TV.

    -30-