Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina brings his much-talked-about two Americas sermon to Columbia tonight as the featured speaker at the South Carolina NAACP’s annual Freedom Fund Celebration.

Edwards, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004, has spent the last year and a half traveling the country elaborating on the theme of his political campaign — that America remains divided between the haves and have-nots.

“We have a lot left to do to bring an end to poverty,” Edwards said.

He urges expanding government programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit for people who work but are poor and creating federally financed “work bonds” that give low-income working families $500 a year in housing vouchers to help poor people move to better neighborhoods with better schools and $1,000 annual grants that they could save for five years toward down payments on houses.

Edwards, a multimillionaire trial lawyer, serves as director of the University of North Carolina’s Law School Center on Poverty.

While Edwards has been spending time on anti-poverty issues, he is not oblivious to politics. He formed a Washington-based political action committee — One America for All of Us — to help other candidates in this year’s election.

A potential Democratic presidential candidate, Edwards has visited Iowa and New Hampshire, too, sites of the earliest presidential contests.

Edwards says it’s too early to speculate about 2008, saying he’s focused on helping his wife, Elizabeth, recover from breast cancer.

“We’re seriously thinking about it but have not made a final decision,” he said.

His wife finished treatment a year ago.

“All test results are good.”

In the 2004 campaign, Edwards was generally credited with giving the best stump speech of the field, citing his background as the son of a South Carolina mill worker who understands the plight of American workers struggling to support their families, not focusing on those of privilege.

Edwards has started pushing a new program to help the poor save for retirement by automatically enrolling them in 401(k) programs.

It has been some time since Edwards visited South Carolina, his native state. It was the only one he captured in the Democratic presidential nominating process in 2004.

If he decides to make a run in 2008, Edwards would join a race for the White House that is shaping up on both sides as the greatest political free-for-all in decades.

With President Bush leaving office and Vice President Dick Cheney ruling out a run for the White House, the race is the most open of any contest in decades. The next presidential election will be the first since 1952 when neither a sitting president nor a vice president will be on the ballot, ensuring an early start to the competition.

Edwards’ challenges include history: Defeated candidates for vice president have never won the presidency four years later.