Is this smart politics?

The Chicago Tribune reported the other day that the leading candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination had "pledged support for wide access to abortion" (i.e., more public funding, among other things):

Speaking on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards before the family planning and abortion-rights group Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Edwards lauded her husband's health-care proposal as "a true universal health-care plan" that would cover "all reproductive health services, including pregnancy termination," referring to abortion.

Edwards was joined by Democratic candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at the group's political organizing conference in addressing issues at the core of the political clash between cultural liberals and conservatives, including abortion rights, access to contraception and sex education.

Now, I suppose that the political reality is that a candidate opposed by Planned Parenthood simply has no chance of winning in the Democratic primaries.  Still, it seems unfortunate that, of the plausible nominees, not one is really positioning him- or herself as a "Democrat for Life."