Yesterday, I reported that Dennis Kucinich has asked his Iowa supporters who find themselves in caucuses where he doesn’t have enough support to be declared “viable” under Iowa’s unusual rules to support Barack Obama. (I’m not claiming a scoop here; Kucinich put out a press release on it.)

Today several blogs and even the online New York Times are reporting in the last few hours a similar deal between the Bill Richardson and the Obama campaigns.

In exchange, Obama will try to steer to Richardson “excess” supporters that he might have in some precincts who won’t, because of the math of a particular precinct, get Obama any additional delegates to the next level of the Iowa selection process, according to these reports. If true, it sort of gets Obama something for nothing and is unlikely to do much to change Richardson’s expected also-ran status.

In an update, the Times says Obama’s campaign managers says there’s no formal arrangement along those lines. If it turns out to be true, and if recent polls are correct, a deal with Richardson could do Obama more good than a deal with Kucinich. If the story is true, it’s also a big counterargument to one of themes of recent speculation about Richardson, which suggested that he had decided that if he couldn’t be president, might make the ticket as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.