Schilling pitches hard for McCain

New Hampshire is a loyal province of Red Sox Nation, so John McCain is counting heavily on a Sox stalwart to help him pull off a Sox-style comeback.

Curt Schilling, who campaigned at McCain's side last week, is the star of a new TV ad that started over the weekend.

"We are living in a complex and dangerous world that requires a leader who embodies character, judgment, and experience," the clutch pitcher, especially during the playoffs, says directly into the camera.

"John McCain is that man. John has a backbone of steel. He's a man of principle who sticks to his guns. He's been tested like no other politician in America. As a prisoner of war, he turned down an offer for early release because he refused preferential treatment. I've seen some tough competitors in my time. But none tougher than John McCain. He's a winner."

McCain desperately needs a win in New Hampshire, where he won the 2000 GOP primary. He's well behind in Iowa, where the caucuses are five days before the New Hampshire primary. And in the latest poll, out today from Marist College, he is tied for second with Rudy Giuliani at 17 percent, well behind Mitt Romney at 29 percent.

About two months from the primary, McCain does not need a comeback as monumental as Sox pulled off in the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees or in the 2007 ALCS against Cleveland, but he does need some of Schilling's magic to rub off.