Four years ago, John Edwards was written off as dead coming into the Wisconsin primary.  His surprisingly strong showing led to him start his speech with that phrase:  "Senator Kerry, objects in your rearview mirror may be closer than they appear."  Had Wesley Clark not played the spoiler in Tennessee and Virginia, he just might have pulled it off.

Well, he's at it again.  The best political closer in the business is closing the gap in South Carolina, and he may just take over second place from a Clinton campaign that has gone seriously off track into a divisive personal battle between Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

Edwards, meanwhile, has kept plugging away, the tortoise in a race against two overconfident hares.  The debate on Monday, Letterman, Tyra Banks, all appearances met with absolute raves.  And he is slugging hard in South Carolina - at town halls and from the backs of pickup trucks.  Retail politics as only he can do it.

And this ad is about to go on the air.  I personally think this is one of the better political ads I have ever seen.  People are used to movie trailers.  They'll watch this one because it's amusing, but it packs a lot of information and inspiration in while being tongue-in-cheek entertaining.  Very well done.

Go to http://www.JohnEdwardsPhoneBank.com and sign up to call our friends in South Carolina.  We need them to vote on Saturday.  One candidate in this race was talking about hope four years ago.  One candidate was talking about the poor four years ago.  One candidate has put everything he has into this race from the get go.  He hasn't been given anything.  He hasn't had a celebrity carry him through a rough spot.  It's all grit and determination and intuitive understanding of what the American people want to hear.

I hope the people of South Carolina give John Edwards a chance to shake this race up again.