The cold war between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and the unions is heating up again.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the world's largest retailer had warned employees that a Democratic president would back the Employee Free Choice Act, a law that would make it easier for unions to organize workers, which the company opposes. The paper now is saying that the union groups have asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate the matter, which they claim violates federal law.

Of course, this is a brilliant public relations move by the unions. First of all, the FEC is as toothless as some Wal-Mart greeters. Even if the FEC finds that Wal-Mart broke the law, the worst that the company will get is a slap -- make that a tickle -- on the wrist. That may not even happen until well into an Obama administration, which brings up my next point.

Why is Wal-Mart set to pick a fight with the Democrats? Don't the folks in Bentonville read the political tea leaves? Odds are pretty good that the country will go Blue in a big way. Maybe the company is worried that the good times reflected in today's results won't last.

John Edwards, the former Senator and candidate for Vice President who is in the running for next year's presidential nomination, has hired two consumer activists from Wake-Up Wal-Mar, a union-back political group that opposes just about everything Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) does these days. This really is no surprise, as Edwards has hired fire-breathers before to support his campaign. Alas, the last one he hired was dismissed after a huge public outcry led by Fox News personality Bill O' Reilly.

Edwards is again stepping into the mud-wrestling ring by hiring activists Paul Blank and Chris Kofinis. What does Edwards hope to accomplish with this move? Well, although the hiring has not been completed yet, both Blank and Kofinis have campaign management and communications in their backgrounds, and both will be poised to increase the visibility of Edwards while allowing other senior campaign officials to work on bringing in more campaign funds. Edwards has fallen quite a bit behind Hilary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in campaign fund-raising, and since we know money talks (and platforms walk) when it comes to elections, the more money you have, the more ears and eyes you can reach.

But does Edwards want these high-level officials connected with Wal-Mart's biggest public adversary to work with his campaign? Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the nation for a reason: customers shop there and most seem to like it. Although the retailer is constantly attacked because of its size and practices, Edward's decision to use fanatic Wal-Mart adversaries could backfire among a good portion of the American public. Will he back down again?