Look out, John Edwards. That endorsement you got from the State Employees Association, a local SEIU affiliate, might be revisited yet again.

Edwards was caught in a crossfire last week between SEA leaders and dissidents who argued that Barack Obama was the executive board's real choice.

It will take some slick parliamentary maneuvering for SEA President Gary Smith to block a discussion of this mess when the union's convention resumes Nov. 17.

The short version of all this is that the union's executive board voted Oct 23 to endorse Obama, 7-5. The Associated Press reported last week that the union actually called Obama to tell him the news.

A week later, Smith essentially calls for a do-over and breaks a tie vote to send the endorsement to Edwards.

In between was an SEA annual convention that was so tied up in an unscheduled membership straw poll on the issue that it never finished its regular business.

The straw poll ended with 50 undecideds, 23 votes for Edwards, 19 for Obama and 14 for Hillary Clinton.

So the delegates convene again Nov. 17. The meeting is also open to the rest of SEA's 10,000 members who don't get a vote.

Jay Ward, SEA political director, said the endorsement is meant to give members direction on candidates. Edwards was at the front all along, and Obama people are just upset, he said.

As for Edwards' small straw poll numbers, Ward said, "that reflects the kinds of numbers that have been seen among the general electorate."

Stephen Foster, a board member who was voted out last week, describes the whole affair as "a hijacking of the board."

He predicted a donnybrook when union members meet again.

"I'm hearing all kinds of questions, and staff at the office say they are being inundated with e-mail and phone calls," he said. "This is all a sham."

Denis Parker, longtime executive director of SEA who parted with the organization early this year, said he never liked the endorsement idea in the first place.

"This is a shallow endorsement, to say the least," he said. "You have to question its value, to the candidate and the organization. These are divisive steps. All they do is irritate supporters of other parties or candidates."

Parker said it comes at a time when SEA should be trying to unite itself.

Roughly 650 corrections officers recently won approval to vote on whether to leave the union, joining Fish and Game officers and Highway Patrol in another law enforcement union.

"There's a reason for SEA to be very concerned about what's going on here. There's a raid on your union, and you just gave them another bullet to shoot at you. This is all self-inflicted," Parker said.

PRISON OVERCROWDING: Thirty-seven inmates at the State Prison for Women in Goffstown are heading to the Seacoast for new digs at the Strafford County House of Corrections.

Overcrowding in Goffstown led the state to look for bids from jails around the state. Strafford was the only bidder, offering to take the women for $55 a day. The Executive Council approved the contract last week, at an estimated annual price of $1.3 million.

Corrections Commissioner Bill Wrenn said part of the deal is that the women be provided the same access to substance abuse treatment they have under state prison control.

The inmates are able to volunteer for the transfer, with Corrections looking for women who have family or will live in the area when they are released.

In the meantime, the department has a request in the long-term capital budget for a new prison.

"We're not talking about an extension to the existing facility," Wrenn emphasized. "We saw the crunch coming so we put it in the budget. People are living on top of each other over there."

TOLL MONEY: The approach of a $100-per-barrel oil price is figuring into calculations on how to spend the $8 million windfall in toll revenues.

Acting Transportation Commissioner Charles O'Leary outlined four options for the Executive Council last week. If the state uses the extra cash to speed construction of needed turnpike projects, it can cut the impact of construction inflation, which is driven by steel, concrete and oil prices. Another option is saving roughly $50 million in interest payments over 30 years by borrowing less with highway bonds. Tolls could also be cut, but the council nixed that idea for Merrimack on Wednesday, most likely for the last time.

Gov. John Lynch leaned toward using the money to get more work done before costs climb higher.

"Inflation avoidance" on turnpike projects "will save users tens of millions of dollars," Lynch said.

Councilor Ray Wieczorek continued to be miffed over his vote last month for a plan that brought $24 million in new toll revenue instead of a $16 million hike that was on the table.

"People never feel at ease when they're paying into a slush fund," Wiz said after O'Leary outlined the options before the council.

FLU SHOTS: State workers who were worried they might not get a free flu shot this year can rest easy. Remember, stress lowers your resistance.

The Executive Council approved a $75,750 contract with LGC HealthTrust to fill a gap that developed between the current contract with HealthTrust and the new contract with Anthem that starts Jan. 1.

Administrative Services Commissioner Don Hill said workers have called concerned that if they have to wait until Anthem is in place, it will be too late for the shot to be effective.

BACK TO WORK: Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is making her way back to work after having her second child this fall. She traveled to Lebanon last week to meet with parents on Internet safety, then held a press conference with Education Commission Lyonel Tracy in Concord to discuss the topic with reporters.

A TOUGH PITCH: Best thing about a Red Sox sweep in the World Series? No more presidential candidates telling reporters they like the Sox, or they are Sox fans. None could top the extreme makeover of the entire baseball season, Rudy Giuliani's one-week conversion from Yankee in Chief to Sox fan.

RETURN VISIT: Former Bush White House chief of staff Andy Card was in the state last week, drumming up support for Sen. John Sununu and the gubernatorial bid of state Sen. Joe Kenney.

Card's grandparents and great-grandparents -- the Campbells and the Whitakers -- lived in the Conway area.

NOT SO FAST: Dan Hughes disputes our item last week saying he did not leave the Fred Thompson presidential campaign quietly.

In fact, he says, he left so quietly that it took people weeks to find out he was gone.

Hughes stood in front of a John McCain campaign bus (he's with McCain now) and told the nation on CNN that Thompson is running a token campaign for President.

Psst, Dan. That's not being quiet.

Tom Fahey is the State House bureau chief for the New Hampshire Sunday News and New Hampshire Union Leader.