The use of a script that sudo's a python interpreter does not work. Eclipse/PyDev will not accept it. However, I found another way to accomplish this. Using pyenv to select a particular python interpreter for the project, I drill down into the path where that interpreter resides. I then change it to root ownership and turn on the setuid bit. I then supply this python interpreter path to Eclipse/PyDev and it accepts it. You have to soft link .pydev to dotpydev, since the Eclipse/PyDev interpreter selection protocol does not list dot files.

I am still testing this approach and will post a comment if it succeeds (and post a comment if it doesn't). Right now the test is stuck on Eclipse/PyDev not finding a module that is necessary for the application. I am posting this problem in another thread, since it is not directly related to running python code as root in projects