Dan Balz of the Washington Post has not been alone in noting how, of all the candidates, John Edwards' efforts on the stump have reached a crescendo in these final days of the Iowa campaign -- an effort that has been matched by rising poll numbers in the RCP Iowa poll average. It is not a coincidence. Candidates do best what they've done before. If Ronald Reagan was a TV communicator par excellence, it was largely because he'd spent much of his adult life in front of the camera -- first making movies, then hosting TV's" General Electric Theatre" and "Death Valley Days." No one could charm an audience of around 75-100 for around 30 minutes like Jimmy Carter, who had perfected the skill teaching Sunday school for years in his native Plains, Georgia.

Trial lawyers may be out of favor in certain segments of America. But if there is one thing they know how to do, it is to give an effective closing at trial. North Carolinians know that few lawyers were as effective as Edwards was in front of a jury and those same skills are on display in the closing days of this Iowa campaign -- just as they were four years ago.

Soon, of course, the campaign will change from retail to wholesale and it remains to be seen whether Edwards' version of prairie politics will play nationally. And, Joe Klein may be right when he wrote yesterday that Edwards may be a tad too "hot" for some voters. But Edwards has done this before and, for this month at least, with the voters as his jury he should probably not be underestimated.

To read Steven Stark's complete "Presidential Tote Board" blog, go to www.thephoenix.com/toteboard/