Business group leaders came to Waco this week not to praise Chet Edwards but to pressure him. But before they left town, they were extolling the Waco Democrat’s political virtues, thanks to his announcement hours earlier that he intended to vote against the controversial health care reform bill pending on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce regional director Pete Havel, referring to his Baylor University background and the NCAA basketball tournament, told me in a light moment that, under the circumstances, “we might as well discuss our March Madness picks.”

Edwards did steal the thunder of some (but not all) critics this week when he revealed his intention to not only vote against the Senate health care reform bill but any move to allow sleight-of-hand shenanigans such as permitting House members to pass the bill without actually voting for it.

His announcement even prompted Waco Tea Party members — hardly friendly to Edwards in recent times — to rally at his downtown office, inviting motorists to honk in support of his declaration. As unrepentant Waco Tea Party member Greg Jones remarked at the rally, “Give credit where credit is due.”

Edwards’ decision had to be crushing for the local Organizing for America chapter, which had passionately pressed the congressman last fall to vote for the House health care bill, without success. As before, Edwards this week said he was concerned about the bill’s failure to stem rising medical costs and the blow it would deal to the deficit.

He did signal, however, other, down-to-earth concerns.

When Politico asked the congressman about Organizing for America efforts to stir up Democratic voters in his district to push him to support the Senate bill, he said, in a moment of unbridled candor, “It’s clear to me they could care less about my political future.”

He later softened the remark, though he was probably right the first time. Local voters have consistently rallied to his side over the years, and for good reason. But this bill is so toxic, so brimming with dubious bargains, backroom deals and Lord-knows-what-else, that Edwards might have committed political suicide in backing it.

Incidentally, a local Organizing for America spokeswoman assures me that the Waco organization had nothing to do this time with any phone campaign pressuring Edwards to vote for the Senate bill.

Certainly these are days of strange bedfellows. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has a record of favoring Republicans, rushed out a TV ad urging Central Texans to contact Edwards to thank him for his promise to vote against the health care bill.

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, had the best quote when he talked of the need for constituents to bolster Edwards, even as he was being pressured by President Barack Obama: “I said, ‘Call Chet, tell him that you love him, tell him that he’s good-looking, and tell him to stick.’ ”

While the U.S. Chamber, the Texas Association of Business and the Waco Tea Party were quick to respond to the news, Bill Flores, the Bryan Republican who hopes to challenge Edwards this fall but often seems more interested in running against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was slow on the draw. His campaign sent out an online petition pressing Edwards to vote against health care reform after the congressman had revealed his decision a day earlier.

Hammond, Pavel and National Federation of Independent Business/Texas communications director Laura Stromberg, in a meeting with Trib political reporter Michael W. Shapiro and me, emphasized their priorities in health care again, including tort reform like we have in Texas and the freedom to buy health insurance across state lines, resulting in what they claim would be more competition and better prices.

Ironically, such measures were raised but failed to gain much ground when Republicans ran the White House and Congress earlier this decade. Which has to make you wonder about Republicans’ sudden support for these measures now.

Expect alliances to shift again in the years to come. Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Association of Business favor comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, however tortuous, for the millions of undocumented workers here. Hammond says our very economy depends on it.

That may see them working alongside Democrats, not Republicans, when this equally volatile issue resurfaces.