It's a quip not meant to be taken altogether seriously, but for the basketball team that thrives on comebacks, it's often said -- when trailing by a dozen points with five minutes to go -- "They've got 'em right where they want 'em."

Which brings up the subject of the only White House aspirant who knows his way around the Wake County courthouse.

The early run of Democratic contests has brought one victory speech after another for John Kerry, and with them the flow of endorsements and money. John Edwards has had to settle for a few crumbs falling from Kerry's banquet table -- a win in his birth state of South Carolina, a couple of other decent finishes.

Now as Edwards grinds on, he's being buffeted by chatter about his prospects as a Kerry running mate and by loud hints that it's time for him to call it a day in the name of party unity. The suggestion is floated that his surprisingly successful long-shot campaign could quickly become late-night comic fodder -- and render him tainted goods down the road -- if he overstays his welcome in the big chase.

My read? Sure, Edwards may fall short, but his cause is by no means hopeless.

It's been widely and aptly noted that our Tar Heel senator -- rounding out his first and only six years in public office -- has consistently made fools of those who have underestimated his political skills and appeal. First he comes out of nowhere to knock off an incumbent. Then practically before he's learned where to line up for a bowl of the Senate dining room's famous bean soup, he's plotting a campaign for president. And forget the bean soup -- he's not going back to the Senate in any case. It's the White House or bust.

This was industrial-strength audacity. And for weeks turning into months, it looked as though Edwards' fate was to become just the latest shining example of how pride goeth before the fall.

But here we are, better-known and better-credentialed candidates out of commission with blown engines, and who's still giving Kerry a respectable run? Not Howard Dean, way back there in a cloud of blue smoke. It's Edwards who has put himself in the best shape to capitalize if Kerry falters.

Now Kerry would promptly aver, "I ain't gonna falter." Or however they say that in Boston-ese. He, after all, is the candidate to whom the party faithful have gravitated as they've borne down on choosing a nominee who can beat President Bush. He's the bemedaled war hero; let Bush with his sketchy National Guard service try to paint him as less than a patriot just because he dares critique the administration's foray in Iraq.

But there's a dynamic that could come into play, to Edwards' benefit. Somebody in the Edwards camp put his finger on it the other day. It's buyer's remorse -- that feeling we've all had after making a hard decision about a new car, new house, new job. Once you've closed the deal and your shiny new set of wheels is sitting in the driveway, it hits you: This thing isn't as quick...quiet...roomy...stylish as I thought. Did I make a big mistake?

Is it too late to take this one back and switch to the one I almost chose before?

Kerry's surge began when that sort of thinking kicked in with regard to Dean. Once it dawned on Democratic voters that their nomination was about to be locked up by the untested Vermonter, they swung hard toward Kerry.

But Kerry himself has has been in the front-runner's perch for only a month or so -- hardly enough time, it can be argued, for his record, his strengths and weaknesses, to undergo merciless scrutiny. By some reckonings, Democrats are falling into line behind Kerry not so much because they think he's the best candidate on the issues, but because they think he's the most electable -- in other words, they see a bandwagon rolling and they're climbing aboard. What if Edwards manages to keep himself viable long enough to prompt a one-on-one comparison with Kerry on all the criteria that Democrats think are important?

Certainly he can argue that his Southern roots, his modest origins, his message of economic uplift would do well in competing for centrist voters who might be inclined to support Bush instead of a northeastern liberal. Edwards, multimillionaire though he is by virtue of his courtroom triumphs, nevertheless can convey more of a salt-of-the-earth quality than Kerry, who was tapped like Bush to join Yale's ultra-elite Skull and Bones secret society (and who married into extraordinary wealth). Edwards is the Wolfpacker who went to Washington.

Kerry's trump card remains his military record. That may do the trick.

But Edwards, even as he trails with the clock winding down, has earned accolades as the most compelling speaker in the race. And he has attained a level of respect among political know-it-alls that would have seemed ludicrously out of reach not many months ago. However things turn out, he has positioned himself to remain a force on the national scene. That's not a bad place to be, especially when you have the fellow you're chasing right where you want him.

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