John and Elizabeth Edwards during the 2008 presidential campaign.

(CNN) – Despite John Edwards' extramarital affair that rocked his marriage, his wife described their union as a "love story," albeit an unconventional one.

Elizabeth Edwards told WJLA-TV in Washington late last week that she wants her marriage to work, and that her husband has been supportive as she continues to battle breast cancer.

"John said, 'Perhaps not the great love story that we hoped, but maybe a great love story nonetheless," she said.

Edwards added: "'Til death do you part, because that's what I want."

Though Elizabeth promised to soldier on, she acknowledged the grim reality of trying to overcome terminal cancer.

"Cancer will probably win," she said. "Why would I give it any more days than it may already take? That's the choice I make."

A video image shows Rielle Hunter arriving at the federal courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 6.

(CNN) - Rielle Hunter, the woman at the center of the John Edwards sex scandal, has been known variously as a spiritual seeker, an aspiring actress, a party girl and a political operative, according to media reports.

Last year, after months of denials, Edwards admitted having an affair with Hunter while he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2006.

Edwards' campaign paid Hunter $114,000 to make a series of short webisode videos about his presidential campaign, and she traveled extensively with the candidate's entourage.

Edwards denies that he is the father of a baby Hunter bore in February 2008, saying the affair was over before she became pregnant.

Former Edwards aide Andrew Young claimed the baby was his. But Young later said that the former senator is the father and that his paternity claim had been made at Edwards' request. Hunter has not said who the father is.

"Rielle is the black sheep of the family. We were all raised the same way. She chose a different path," Hunter's sister, Roxanne Marshall, told People magazine in August 2008.

Full story

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Damning new allegations about former Sen. John Edwards' extramarital affair are coming out - this time, the claims could spell the end of Edwards' political career.

While the U.S. has a tradition of forgiveness, politicians seem able to gain forgiveness from the public and come back after just about anything. As long as the offender apologizes, gets punished and seems to suffer along the way, they are forgiven.

Edwards admitted to having an affair with former 2008 presidential campaign worker Rielle Hunter. He did a mea culpa.

"In 2006, two years ago, I made a very serious mistake. A mistake that I am responsible for and no one else," he said during an interview with ABC News' "Nightline."

"I told Elizabeth about the mistake, asked her for her forgiveness, asked God for his forgiveness," he said.

But now he's getting the front page New York Times treatment.

Full story

Edwards isn't ruling out politics in the future.

(CNN) – In his first at-length interview in the year since he admitted to an extramarital affair, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says he's still not sure whether it was a mistake to run for the White House knowing his act of infidelity could be exposed.

"Did it make sense to run and stay in the race? Time will tell," Edwards told the Washington Post in an interview published on the paper's Web site Wednesday.

The former North Carolina senator credited his run with highlighting the issue of poverty and pushing his chief Democratic competitors - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - toward more progressive stances on a host of issues.

"If you were to ask people during the campaign who's talking most about [poverty], it was me," Edwards said in the interview. "There's a desperate need in the world for a voice of leadership on this issue... The president's got a lot to do, he's got a lot of people to be responsible for, so I'm not critical of him. But there does need to be an aggressive voice beside the president."

The comments come a month after his wife Elizabeth embarked on a high-profile book tour, during which she documented at length her anguishing reaction to Edwards' affair with a campaign staffer three years earlier.

Edwards - the 2004 vice presidential candidate and onetime frontrunner for an Obama cabinet post - also said he is not ruling out a future in politics.

"Sometimes you just keep your head down and work hard and see what happens," he said.

Edwards isn't ruling out politics in the future.

(CNN) – In his first at-length interview in the year since he admitted to an extramarital affair, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says he's still not sure whether it was a mistake to run for the White House knowing his act of infidelity could be exposed.

"Did it make sense to run and stay in the race? Time will tell," Edwards told the Washington Post in an interview published on the paper's Web site Wednesday.

The former North Carolina senator credited his run with highlighting the issue of poverty and pushing his chief Democratic competitors - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - toward more progressive stances on a host of issues.

"If you were to ask people during the campaign who's talking most about [poverty], it was me," Edwards said in the interview. "There's a desperate need in the world for a voice of leadership on this issue... The president's got a lot to do, he's got a lot of people to be responsible for, so I'm not critical of him. But there does need to be an aggressive voice beside the president."

The comments come a month after his wife Elizabeth embarked on a high-profile book tour, during which she documented at length her anguishing reaction to Edwards' affair with a campaign staffer three years earlier.

Edwards - the 2004 vice presidential candidate and onetime frontrunner for an Obama cabinet post - also said he is not ruling out a future in politics.

"Sometimes you just keep your head down and work hard and see what happens," he said.

"Did you have an suspicion at any time?," King asks Mrs. Edwards in an exclusive interview set to air Tuesday night on CNN.

"No. No. None," Elizabeth Edwards replies. "He's been on the road for quite some time. He's a lawyer who traveled. He took cases all over. But I saw the way he treated me. I knew the way he treated me, the commitment he had to our family. I was perhaps, the one thing I could agree with Maureen Dowd, I was probably naive, I was certainly naive."

Edwards also tells King that she believes her husband loves her, but fell prey to a flaw.

"I believe through this whole thing, John has loved me," she tells King. "I just think that he had a frailty that allowed him to do something which was completely contrary to the rest of his life."

The political spouse was also candid about the impact that her husband's infidelity has had on their marriage as she continues to live with terminal cancer.

"You know what's double sad, if God forbid you left, John will probably be double crushed," King says in Tuesday's interview.

"I completely agree with that," says Edwards. "We've talked about that. We've talked about his work at rebuilding trust, and it's really important that he get to that place, quote in time so that he understands that what he took away he does his very best job to put back."

Updated: 6:38 p.m.

More

Programming Note: Watch Elizabeth Edwards' entire exclusive interview on Larry King Live beginning at 9 pm Tuesday.

Trippi was a former senior adviser to Edwards' campaign.

(CNN) – Joe Trippi, a former top aide to John Edwards, is sharply refuting a report a handful of campaign staffers knew about the former presidential candidate's affair and had plans to sabotage his White House bid, telling CNN Monday the claim is "complete bull s**t."

"No one that I know had such a plan, I wasn't involved in a plan like that, it didn't exist, it's a fantasy," Trippi said in a phone interview.

Trippi, a close advisor to Edwards during his Democratic presidential primary bid, also said if any campaign staffer actually knew the affair was true they were "not only malpracticing John Edwards but the country as well by not doing the right thing, going to him, and telling him he had to leave the race."

The comments come a day after ABC News reported several Edwards campaign staffers "in the inner circle" began to believe rumors of an affair were true in late 2007. According to the story, the group had devised a "doomsday" strategy to sabotage the campaign if Edwards looked as if he would win the Democratic nomination.

But Trippi, who worked closely with Edwards' most senior advisors, including Campaign Manager David Bonior and Deputy Campaign manager Jonathan Prince, suggested he would have been aware of a plan if one existed.

"I don't think there was an hour Prince wasn't with me," he said, adding later, "I can't conceive of how it was possible that if someone had a secret plan I wasn't aware of it."

In reality, Trippi said, Edwards' senior advisers immediately discounted the rumors, first reported by the National Enquirer in the fall of 2007, and never raised the possibility they might be true.

"We were thinking there is no way in hell he would do this to Elizabeth," Trippi said. We were thinking how could the National Enquirer do this to her, when she has terminal cancer and tries to make a difference by helping her husband run for president."

Edwards came in second in the Iowa caucuses on January 3, 2008, behind Barack Obama but slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton in the state delegate vote count. But five days later he finished a distant third in the New Hampshire primary. Edwards gave up his bid for the White House on January 30, the day after a disappointing third place finish in the South Carolina primary.

Programming Note: Watch Elizabeth Edwards' exclusive interview on CNN's Larry King Live at 9 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – She’s lost her first born child, continues to battle cancer, suffered through coping with her husband’s extramarital affair, and been an integral part of two unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

But notwithstanding all of the sympathy from voters built up in favor of Elizabeth Edwards, two reporters suggested Sunday that the famous political spouse’s current media blitz could bankrupt her goodwill with the American public.

“She was painted as this martyr figure,” CNN American Morning Entertainment Reporter Lola Ogunnaike said on CNN’s Reliable Sources.“

“They had what seemed to be this ideal marriage. And it turns out that she was complicit in basically this cover- up. She knew all along that he'd had an affair, that he cheated on her, and decided that they would go along with this massive cover-up, and she ultimately decided that his political career was worth more than being honest.” Ogunnaike added.

Washington Post reporter Lois Romano said Mrs. Edwards recent efforts to rehash her husband’s extramarital affair in multiple interviews and her forthcoming book is filling some sort of need but is risky.

“There's clearly something in her personality that is pushing her to get the last word,” said Romano. “I think she is at risk of diminishing her own stature. I mean, people held her up as the soul of this relationship, and now she's turned it into a spectacle again,” Romano also said.

Romano also suggested that Mrs. Edwards’ book tour might backfire. “Well, I think what we're going to see here is we're going to see the curve of the public follow us [the media]. Right now . . . the public is still generally in support of her,” Romano said. “Let's see what happens after two weeks of this.”

Elizabeth Edwards’ upcoming book, “Resilence,” touches on learning that her husband, former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, had carried on an affair with videographer Rielle Hunter.

"After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up," Edwards writes of her reaction when her husband told her about the affair in late 2006, soon after he announced his second presidential bid.

In a recently aired interview on “Oprah,” John Edwards said he wasn't sure whether his wife would leave him after he admitted to the affair.

"I didn't know, I think the honest truth is that I didn't know what she would do," he said. “I don't think anybody knows when they go through something like this."

Edwards also said he and his wife are "are getting to a good place." But he added, "It's not over."

One issue the Edwardses have apparently yet apparently to completely confront is whether a child resulted from the affair. Asked about Hunter’s daughter, a toddler, Elizabeth Edwards told Oprah Winfrey she did not know whether her husband was the baby’s father.

“I've seen a picture of the baby,” Elizabeth Edwards told the media mogul. “I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children. But, I don't have any idea.”

The Edwardses also recently acknowledged a pending federal investigation into payments by the former candidate's political action committee to a production company owned by Hunter.

In a statement recently given to several news organizations, including to CNN, John Edwards for the first time acknowledged the ongoing federal probe, but would provide no further details.

"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely manner."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina refused to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation.

It is a federal crime to knowingly use money from a political action committee for personal use.

Programming Note: Watch Elizabeth Edwards' exclusive interview on CNN's Larry King Live at 9 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – She’s lost her first born child, continues to battle cancer, suffered through coping with her husband’s extramarital affair, and been an integral part of two unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

But notwithstanding all of the sympathy from voters built up in favor of Elizabeth Edwards, two reporters suggested Sunday that the famous political spouse’s current media blitz could bankrupt her goodwill with the American public.

“She was painted as this martyr figure,” CNN American Morning Entertainment Reporter Lola Ogunnaike said on CNN’s Reliable Sources.“

“They had what seemed to be this ideal marriage. And it turns out that she was complicit in basically this cover- up. She knew all along that he'd had an affair, that he cheated on her, and decided that they would go along with this massive cover-up, and she ultimately decided that his political career was worth more than being honest.” Ogunnaike added.

Washington Post reporter Lois Romano said Mrs. Edwards recent efforts to rehash her husband’s extramarital affair in multiple interviews and her forthcoming book is filling some sort of need but is risky.

“There's clearly something in her personality that is pushing her to get the last word,” said Romano. “I think she is at risk of diminishing her own stature. I mean, people held her up as the soul of this relationship, and now she's turned it into a spectacle again,” Romano also said.

Romano also suggested that Mrs. Edwards’ book tour might backfire. “Well, I think what we're going to see here is we're going to see the curve of the public follow us [the media]. Right now . . . the public is still generally in support of her,” Romano said. “Let's see what happens after two weeks of this.”

Elizabeth Edwards’ upcoming book, “Resilence,” touches on learning that her husband, former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, had carried on an affair with videographer Rielle Hunter.

"After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up," Edwards writes of her reaction when her husband told her about the affair in late 2006, soon after he announced his second presidential bid.

In a recently aired interview on “Oprah,” John Edwards said he wasn't sure whether his wife would leave him after he admitted to the affair.

"I didn't know, I think the honest truth is that I didn't know what she would do," he said. “I don't think anybody knows when they go through something like this."

Edwards also said he and his wife are "are getting to a good place." But he added, "It's not over."

One issue the Edwardses have apparently yet apparently to completely confront is whether a child resulted from the affair. Asked about Hunter’s daughter, a toddler, Elizabeth Edwards told Oprah Winfrey she did not know whether her husband was the baby’s father.

“I've seen a picture of the baby,” Elizabeth Edwards told the media mogul. “I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children. But, I don't have any idea.”

The Edwardses also recently acknowledged a pending federal investigation into payments by the former candidate's political action committee to a production company owned by Hunter.

In a statement recently given to several news organizations, including to CNN, John Edwards for the first time acknowledged the ongoing federal probe, but would provide no further details.

"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely manner."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina refused to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation.

It is a federal crime to knowingly use money from a political action committee for personal use.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - John Edwards supported his wife writing about their marital problems in the wake of his affair with a campaign staffer, the former presidential candidate said in a rare on-camera interview airing Thursday.

In the brief television interview with talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, Edwards said he never suggested his wife, Elizabeth, change any part of the book, even chapters that described the most personal details of her reaction to his infidelity.

"I think it's how she feels, it's what's inside of her," Edwards said. It was his first television interview since publicly acknowledging the affair nine months ago.

Among the revelations in her book out this week, Mrs. Edwards said she became nauseous when her husband told her of an affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006, who was hired to make Web videos about Edwards as he geared up for his second presidential run.

“I cried and screamed,” Mrs. Edwards writes in the book. “I went to the bathroom and threw up." Mrs. Edwards added that she urged her husband not to run for president in order to protect the family if the affair became public.

In the interview with Oprah, John Edwards said he wasn't sure whether his wife would leave him after he admitted to the affair.

"I didn't know, I think the honest truth is that I didn't know what she would do," he said.
“I don't think anybody knows when they go through something like this."

Edwards also said he and his wife are "are getting to a good place." But he added, "It's not over."

John Edwards currently faces a federal investigation over the $114,000 in payments to Hunter's production company. Edwards denies any wrongdoing in how Hunter was compensated.

(CNN) – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has long denied that he is the father of videographer Rielle Hunter's daughter - but outspoken wife Elizabeth Edwards says she isn't sure.

In an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey set to air Thursday, Elizabeth Edwards says doesn't "have any idea" if her husband, who has admitted having an affair with Hunter, is also the father of Hunter's child.

"The other woman has a baby," Winfrey said during the interview.

"That's what I understand," Edwards said, interrupting the media mogul.

"And there is great speculation that your husband, John Edwards, is the father of that baby," responded Winfrey.

"That's what I understand. I've seen a picture of the baby. I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children. But, I don't have any idea," said Edwards.

In "Resilence," a new book by Edwards due out later this month, she describes her visceral, physical reaction to her husband telling her about the affair in late 2006, soon after he announced his second presidential bid.

"After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up," Edwards writes in her forthcoming book.

Related on TIME.com: How I survived John's affair

The Edwardses recently acknowledged a pending federal investigation into payments by the former candidate's political action committee to a production company owned by Hunter.

In a statement given to several news organizations, including to CNN on Monday, John Edwards for the first time acknowledged the ongoing federal probe, but would provide no further details.

"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely manner."

Elizabeth Edwards, told CNN Monday "there won't be anything that sticks on this."
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina refused to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation.

It is a federal crime to knowingly use money from a political action committee for personal use.

Listen: CNN Radio reports on the Edwards investigation

Updated: 11:24 a.m.

John Edwards and his wife say they don't believe there was any financial wrongdoing.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - While acknowledging federal authorities are investigating the finances related to John Edwards political efforts, he and his wife say they don't believe there was any financial wrongdoing.

Investigators are focusing their inquiry on the more than $114,000 in payments from July 2006 through February 2007 by Edwards' political action committee to a production company owned by Rielle Hunter, a woman he had an affair with, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

Hunter recorded web videos of Edwards for the political action committee. The payments were listed in federal election records as related to website/internet services work.

After months of tabloid rumors, Edwards admitted last summer he and Hunter had a previous affair.

In a statement given to several news organizations, including CNN, Edwards for the first time acknowledgedthere is an ongoing federal probe but would provide no further details.

"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the UnitedStates both the people and the information necessary to help get the issue resolved efficiently and in atimely manner."

Edwards' wife, Elizabth, told CNN Monday "there won't be anything that sticks on this."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina refused to confirm or deny an investigation is ongoing.

Knowingly using money from a political committee for personal use is a federal crime.

In an interview with ABC's Nightline last August, Edwards said: "I've never paid a dime of money to any of the people that are involved. I've never asked anybody to pay a dime of money, never been told that money'sbeen paid."

Fred Baron, an Edwards financial backer, last year admitted paying money to Hunter and a man who claimed he was the father of her child. Baron died last year. Those payments would not be illegal.

"I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own. I did this of my own volition without the instruction or suggestion of anyone, and made a concious decision not to tell anyone, including John Edwards, that assistance was provided. The assistance was offered and accepted without condition. This is now and shall always remain a private matter between these individuals and me," Baron said in a statement last August.

All of this comes as Elizabeth Edwards, suffering from another bout with cancer, is set to release her book, Resilience, later this week. In it she talks about how she learned of the affair and said at that point she "cried and screamed. I went to the bathroom and threw up," according to an advanced copy obtained by The New York Daily News. Elizabeth Edwards is scheduled to do a media tour after the release promoting it, and her husband's affair and how she has dealt with is expected to be a major topic of the interviews.

CNN Producers Dugald McConnell and Kevin Bohn contributed to this story.

Edwards spoke at Brown University Tuesday.

(CNN) - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards waded back into the public eye Tuesday, months after admitting to an extramarital affair with a campaign aide that likely put an end to his political career.

In a speech at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, the two-time presidential candidate focused his remarks on issue of poverty, calling it a "fundamental issue," according to the Raleigh News and Observer.

In a question and answer session following the speech, only one student touched on the controversy that unfolded last summer, asking Edwards if politicians should be held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens.

“I don’t think it’s for a candidate to decide what’s appropriate,” Edwards said. “It’s something for every American to decide for themselves.”

“I have my own view, which I’m going to keep to myself tonight," he added.

Since admitting to an affair with former campaign videographer Rielle Hunter last August, the onetime vice presidential candidate has kept a low profile. Wife Elizabeth Edwards has continued to advocate for universal health care and is set to release a book in the coming months entitled, “Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities.”

Blagojevich, facing record low approval ratings in Illinois, tops at least one political poll this month.

(CNN) – Which politician should be top Santa's naughty list this year? If the American public had anything to say about it, Rod Blagojevich would beat out John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer for the title of the naughtiest politician of 2008.

Asked which political figure deserved a lump of coal this Christmas, the scandal-scarred Blagojevich was picked by more Americans than the other two candidates combined.

Nineteen percent thought that Edwards, who admitted cheating on his wife during his presidential bid, was the naughtiest. And 23 percent thought that Spitzer, who resigned as New York's government amid a call-girl scandal, should get the nod.

But 56 percent said that Blagojevich, who has been arrested on corruption charges, was the naughtiest pol in 2008.

Some of that may be due to the fact that Blagojevich's arrest happened more recently than the transgressions of Spitzer or Edwards, but there's likely another reason at work as well: Americans typically take a much dimmer view of corruption than of sex scandals, since the former is a violation of the public trust and the latter is usually considered more of a private matter.

The results are based on interviews with 1,013 adult Americans conducted by telephone on December 19-21, 2008. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Edwards made hist first public appearance Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - John Edwards took the stage at Indiana University on Tuesday night for a discussion on the 2008 presidential election, but members of the audience may have had something else on their minds entirely.

After all, this is the former North Carolina senator's first public appearance since his admission of an extramarital affair sent shockwaves through the political world more than three months ago.

Edwards talked about politics, poverty and his hopes for America and the world, according to The Associated Press. Afterward, he answered only written questions that had been submitted before his speech. The affair wasn't mentioned, AP reported.

The revelation, confirming a months-long investigation by the National Enquirer, was a political bombshell for the former candidate, who espoused moral values during his White House bid and whose wife is fighting a public battle with breast cancer.

Full story

Edwards made hist first public appearance Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - John Edwards took the stage at Indiana University on Tuesday night for a discussion on the 2008 presidential election, but members of the audience may have had something else on their minds entirely.

After all, this is the former North Carolina senator's first public appearance since his admission of an extramarital affair sent shockwaves through the political world more than three months ago.

The revelation, confirming a months-long investigation by the National Enquirer, was a political bombshell for the former candidate, who espoused moral values during his White House bid and whose wife is fighting a public battle with breast cancer.

Full story

A book based on Edwards' mistress is soaring in book sales.

(CNN) - Author Jay McInerney may have John Edwards to thank for a likely influx of book royalties.

His twenty-year old novel, based on the life of Edwards' mistress when she was a young adult, is soaring in sales rankings - so much so that the book's publisher has commissioned an additional 2,500 copies for print on Monday.

McInerney has said the book's main character, described as an "ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year old," was inspired by Rielle Hunter - the film producer who Edwards recently acknowledged having an affair with in 2006.

The book, about the New York singles scene amidst the excess of the 1980s, is now 299 on Amazon.com and 393 on Barnes&Noble.com - moves of a couple hundred places in only a handful of days. Before news of the affair broke, the book was thousands of spots lower.

Edwards, the former presidential candidate and 2004 vice presidential candidate, said he had a brief affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006 when she was employed by his political action committee to make "webisodes" about his campaign.

Despite breathing new life into one of his novels, McInerney said earlier this week he is no fan of the former North Carolina senator.

"To say that he slept with her but he wasn't in love with her - that's not very chivalrous," the author told the New York Daily News. "He's trying to distance himself from her."

"I don't feel my questions have been answered with regard to Edwards," he also said. "It was a half-assed confession."

John Edwards admitted Friday that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006.

(CNN) - Rumors about John Edwards' love affair had been circulating for months, but it wasn't until the former Democratic presidential candidate admitted to the affair that national news organizations jumped on the story.

After the National Enquirer reported catching Edwards making a late-night visit to see his ex-mistress last month, the blogosphere exploded, asking why the mainstream media was not reporting the story.

Was it because of a condescending attitude toward a tabloid's reporting? Bias toward a Democratic candidate? Or sympathy toward Elizabeth Edwards, who is battling an incurable form of cancer?

David Carr, a columnist for The New York Times, said many news organizations "tend to pick up stories from the National Enquirer with tongs."

"They have been very right about some things ... but there's been some misses too, so it's a little scary to follow on those stories," he said Sunday on CNN's Reliable Sources.

"It's also a little scary for big outfits to step up on a story like this. Sex may sell, but it can really hurt your relationship with readers," he added.

Enquirer editor David Perel said his organization feels a "big sense of vindication" now that Edwards has admitted to the affair.

Full story

(CNN) – The woman who had an extramarital affair with former presidential candidate John Edwards won't seek a paternity test to prove whether he's the father of her 5-month-old child, her lawyer said Saturday.

In a statement he provided to the Washington Post, attorney Robert Gordon said Rielle Hunter is a private citizen and that she will not comment further on the media frenzy sparked Friday when Edwards publicly acknowledged the affair.

"She wishes to maintain her privacy" and the privacy of her child, Gordon said in the statement. "Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her ... privacy now or in the future."

Gordon confirmed to CNN that he provided a statement to the Post. He said Saturday he would not immediately be releasing the statement to anyone else and will not be doing interviews about it.

After months of denying the affair, Edwards admitted making "a serious error in judgment" in 2006 when he had an affair with Hunter, a filmmaker who worked making videos for his presidential campaign.

He said her child is not his, as had been claimed in tabloid reports, saying the timing of the affair would make that impossible. A former Edwards campaign aide, Andrew Young, has publicly said the child is his.

Edwards said he was willing to take a paternity test to clear up the question.

"Happy to take a paternity test ... would love to see it happen," he said in an interview with ABC News.

Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2004. He made an unsuccessful bid for his party's nomination in this year's election and had been considered a possible VP choice for presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama - or a contender for attorney general or another top government post if Obama wins in November.

Former Sen. John Edwards had been mentioned as a possible 2008 vice presidential candidate.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - John Edwards, who made his marriage a central part of his overall message during the 2008 Democratic primaries - was dealt a political blow Friday after admitting to having an extramarital affair.

In an interview on ABC News "Nightline," Edwards acknowledged the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, which began after she was hired to make documentary videos for his campaign, ABC said.

Watch: Edwards' interview

Opinions, however, are mixed on whether he would have a future in politics.

CNN contributor James Carville, a former aide to Bill Clinton - who acknowledged an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky in his second term - said Edwards' career is in dire straits.

"Certainly, his political career is in shambles. It's not going to come back. I humanly feel sorry for Mrs. Edwards. I feel sorry for the Edwards children. But I'm not shocked," he said Friday.

Elizabeth Edwards, in a posting on the Daily Kos Web site, said, "The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done.

"But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my [cancer] diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private, because as painful as it was, I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well."

Like Carville, CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger said this incident could hurt his career.

"Obviously, lying like this, brazenly, is going to put an end, probably, to his political career and could affect whether he gets any role if Barack Obama were to win the presidency," she said Friday.

Full Story

National Enquirer editor-in-chief David Perel says the tabloid broke news of John Edwards' affair in 2007.

(CNN) - Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards admitted Friday to having an extramarital affair in 2006 with a woman who worked on his campaign.

Edwards has denied being the father of the woman's child, as had been alleged in tabloid reports, and it is willing to take a paternity test.

Wolf Blitzer, filling in for Larry King, spoke with David Perel, editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, who originally broke the story in October 2007. Blitzer also spoke with Alan Butterfield, a senior reporter for the National Enquirer who confronted John Edwards at a hotel in Beverly Hills on Thursday.

Some highlights:

Wolf Blitzer: What got you guys going in this direction to begin with?

David Perel: We received what we thought was a credible tip, Wolf, and we started investigating it. A lot of times when we go down this road and the story turns out not to be true, we abandon it. But the more we dug in, the more information The Enquirer uncovered that was standing up, we were able to prove that, indeed, John Edwards had a sexual affair with Rielle Hunter. We first did the story in October without naming her and then we came back with a much tougher story in December 2007, where we not only named her, but we photographed her pregnant.

Watch: Perel discusses Edwards' 'character issue'

Blitzer: And at that time, you didn't report that - what you reported subsequently, that you thought that he was the father.

Perel: That's true. We know that Rielle believes that he is the father. And Mr. Edwards today, in his own statement, said he did not take a paternity test. He's now saying that he will take one. We've asked him for months if he would take one and he's ignored that request.

Full Story

(CNN) - John McCain was tight-lipped Friday afternoon when it came to answering any questions about former U.S. Senator and Democratic hopeful John Edwards's admittance to having an extramarital affair. Edwards acknowledged he had had an affair with a former aide in 2006 but denied being the father of her baby. McCain told reporters "I don't have any comment on that" during a press conference in Rogers, Arkansas.

In Nevada, New York Senator Hillary Clinton said her "thoughts and prayers are with the Edward's family today" when asked if she thought her party would suffer any repercussions because of the scandal. Senator Clinton held an impromptu press conference following a campaign event in Las Vegas for Barack Obama where the statement was made.

(CNN) - Fred Baron, the finance chairman for the John Edwards presidential campaign, said in a Friday statement that he paid to help the woman Edwards had an extramarital affair with, and the former aide who was the alleged father of her child, move out of the former North Carolina senator’s home state.

“I decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own,” he said of his efforts to aid Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young.

“I did this of my own volition without the instruction or suggestion of anyone, and made a conscious decision not to tell anyone, including John Edwards, that assistance was provided,” he added. “The assistance was offered and accepted without condition. This is now and shall always remain a private matter between these individuals and me.”

Hunter and Young lived separately at an upscale development in Chapel Hill, and later in Santa Barbara, California.

Elizabeth Edwards: 'John made a terrible mistake in 2006.'

Elizabeth Edwards posted a statement on the Daily Kos Web site Friday about her husband's confession that he had had an extramarital affair.

FULL STATEMENT FOLLOWS:

Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.

John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.

Edwards: ‘I am ashamed of my conduct and choices.”

John Edwards released a statement Friday following a report that he had admitted an extra-marital affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter.

Watch: Edwards: 'I sin every single day'

STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS

August 8, 2008

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

Edwards endorsed Obama in May.

(CNN) – Former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards admitted to an extramarital affair in an interview with ABC News, the network reported Friday. He denied being the father of the woman's child, as had been alleged in tabloid reports.

Watch: Edwards met Hunter at a bar

Asked by a reporter late last month whether he had provided any financial support to Rielle Hunter, or to Andrew Young - the former Edwards aide who claimed paternity of the child - Edwards replied that "I have no idea what you are asking about, I have responded to consistently to these tabloid allegations by saying I don't respond to these lies." He also said again that he had not lied during his presidential campaign when he denied an affair with Hunter.

Election Center: The John Edwards File

Speaking to the network for a story to be aired Friday night, Edwards acknowledged the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, which began after she was hired to make documentary videos for his campaign, ABC said.

He said he has not taken a paternity test, but that the timing of the affair rules out the possibility that he could be her baby girl's father.

Full story

Edwards didn't rule out running for VP a second time.

(CNN) – John Edwards said Tuesday that if he were asked to accept the vice presidential slot or a cabinet position in a potential Barack Obama administration, he would “seriously consider” whatever the Illinois senator asked him to do.

It has been widely reported that the former North Carolina senator is on Obama’s vice presidential shortlist. On Tuesday, NPR interviewer Guy Raz called the former Democratic presidential candidate’s presence on the list an “open secret,” and asked Edwards whether he’d weigh accepting a vice presidential offer, or might take himself out of consideration as Virginia Senator Jim Webb had done Monday.

“I’m glad to hear that’s an open secret because I didn’t know it,” joked Edwards of his rumored consideration as Obama’s running mate.

“My answer to that is, I’ve run for vice president, I’ve run for president twice. I would do anything that I felt I could do to serve this country but I think it’s a huge presumption for me or anybody else to suggest what Senator Obama may decide,” he said.

Watch: Flashback: Kerry picks Edwards for No. 2

“To answer your question directly: I don’t expect to be asked, have no expectation about it at all, I will – anything that Senator Obama asks me to do, including this, including campaigning for him, I intend to do, because what I’m going to do, I intend to take seriously,” he added. “What I intend to do is everything in my power, use everything in my power to make sure that he’s the next president.”

Pressed on whether that meant he might join the ticket if asked, Edwards would not rule it out. “I am prepared to seriously consider anything, anything he asks me to do for our country,” he told NPR.

When he endorsed Obama in May, John Kerry’s 2004 running mate had said he was not interested in another vice presidential bid.

In June, the Associated Press reported that Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who has met with Obama's vice presidential search committee, had been told Edwards was on the list of candidates.

John and Elizabeth Edwards made an appearance at Sen. Obama's speech in North Carolina Monday.

Photo credit: AP.

Edwards says he doesn't want to be Obama's No. 2

(CNN) – It may be time to take John Edwards' name off the list of potential vice presidential candidates.

The former presidential candidate, who was the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee, continued to flatly maintain has no interest in the job. Traveling in Spain Friday, Edwards told two separate newspapers it’s not a role he is willing to take again. (Related: The rundown on Obama's VP possibilities)

“I already had the privilege of running for vice president in 2004, and I won't do it again," Edwards told El Mundo newspaper. He also made similar comments to El Pais.

The former North Carolina senator's comments are his first on VP speculation since Barack Obama officially clinched the Democratic nomination. Edwards, who ended his own bid in late January , endorsed the Illinois senator's White House bid in May, sending the political world abuzz that the two could team up on the same ticket. (WATCH: Edwards endorses Obama)

They appeared to have natural chemistry — something Edwards and then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry seemed to lack in 2004 — and the former North Carolina senator remains popular among a key demographic that has been reluctant to support Obama — working-class white voters. (WATCH: Edwards' motives for endorsement)

But Edwards immediately sought to quell rumors he was angling for the No. 2 spot, telling an interviewer shortly after his endorsement announced that it "Won't happen…. It's just not something I am interested in."

But he has been more coy about serving for Obama in other ways, specifically as his attorney general.

Edwards endorsed Obama earlier this month.

(CNN) – Two more pledged delegates who previously supported John Edwards have announced their support for Barack Obama, CNN has confirmed.

PolitickerNH.com first reported that State Sen. Peter Burling and Deborah Bacon-Nelson announced their decision Friday morning.

Three of New Hampshire’s four pledged delegates have now switched to Obama since the former presidential candidate’s decision to back the Illinois senator’s presidential bid. New Hampshire delegate Joshua Denton switched his support the day after Edwards endorsed Obama.

Nationwide, 12 of Edwards 19 delegates have now decided to support Obama, including six of Edwards' pledged delegates in South Carolina and three from Iowa.

Obama currently has 1,969 delegates to Clinton's 1,779 in CNN's official count.

Were voters swayed by Edwards' decision to back Obama?

(CNN) – Is John Edwards' recent endorsement of Barack Obama important? Forty-five percent of the voters in today's Kentucky's Democratic primary think so. But exit polls show they split their vote: 48 percent voted for Obama, and 47 percent for Clinton.

Fifty-two percent of today's voters in Kentucky say Edwards' endorsement of Obama was not important. They went overwhelmingly for Clinton: 81 to 14 percent.

An Obama-Edwards ticket 'wont' happen.'

(CNN) - Seeing John Edwards and Barack Obama on the same stage earlier this week left political pundits buzzing: Could these two be an unbeatable presidential ticket?

They appeared to have natural chemistry - something Edwards and then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry seemed to lack in 2004 - and the former North Carolina senator remains popular among a key demographic that has been reluctant to support Obama - working class white voters.

But Edwards flatly said Friday, as he had before he endorsed a candidate, that he's not interested in making a second run for vice president.

"No," Edwards said in no uncertain terms on NBC's the Today show when asked about the possibility. "Won't happen.…It's just not something I am interested in."

As for another position in an Obama administration, specifically Attorney General, Edwards was decidedly more coy.

"I don't really want to get involved in that speculation," he said. "Right now we have to focus on getting Barack Obama elected to President of the United States, then we’ll worry about those things."

Edwards formally endorsed Obama Wednesday evening, the day after Clinton scored a 41 point victory over the Illinois senator in West Virginia. Edwards also said Friday the timing of his announcement was not specifically designed by the Obama campaign to direct the media coverage away from the New York senator's win.

"That's not true," he said. "I know it's not true because I am the one who made the decision about when to do this. I believe this was the right time to do it. I made a decision that the public should know at this point my view."

Obama picked up several of Edwards' delegates Thursday.

(CNN) – At least six of John Edwards' pledged delegates in South Carolina will throw their support to Barack Obama following Edwards’ endorsement of the Democratic frontrunner, bringing the total number of delegates switching to Obama on Thursday to eight.

One Edwards delegate from Iowa, Machelle Crum, came out for Obama on Thursday morning, as did New Hampshire delegate Joshua Denton. Crum made the decision after receiving a phone call from Edwards supporters encouraging her to make the switch.

In South Carolina, Daniel Boan, Christine Brennan-Bond, Robert Groce, Susan Smith, Mike Evatt and Lauren Bilton - all elected as pledged delegates for Edwards following his third place finish in the primary there on January 29 - announced Thursday they will follow Edwards’ lead and pledge their support to Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August.

John Moylan, the Columbia attorney who directed Edwards’ campaign in the state and is now serving as an alternate delegate for Edwards, appeared on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday. He stated his support for Obama and hinted that more members of the Edwards delegation would follow later in the day.

“I didn't reach all eight of them, but I can tell you that at least six of the eight are prepared to endorse Senator Obama,” Moylan said this morning.

He added: “I think you will see overwhelming support of John Edwards delegates standing with John Edwards and now standing for Barack Obama.”

Bilton appeared on the show alongside Moylan and confirmed that she, too, is now supporting Obama.

Boan, Brennan-Bond and Groce, all reached by phone or e-mail, confirmed they will switch their commitment to Obama. In a separate e-mail, Moylan said that Smith and Evatt will also move into Obama’s camp.

The remaining two delegates supporting Edwards in South Carolina are Marilyn Hemingway, who told CNN she would continue to support Edwards, and Tim Moore, who said he is waiting until the primary process concludes before deciding whom to back.

Obama had reached out to Edwards' South Carolina delegation even before winning the endorsement of the former North Carolina senator. Last Thursday while in Washington, the Illinois senator arranged a conference call with the delegates to introduce himself and take questions about his campaign

CNN=Politics Daily is The Best Political Podcast from The Best Political Team.

(CNN) - In the final weeks of the race for the Democratic Party's nomination, the battle is for delegates . . . and for momentum.

In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, Sen. Barack Obama tries to steal back momentum from rival Sen. Hillary Clinton by going to Michigan, a general election battleground, and announcing the he has locked up the endorsement of John Edwards.

On the same day that Obama nabbed one of the most coveted remaining endorsements in the Democratic race, Sen. Clinton sought to capitalize on her landslide victory in West Virginia by sitting down for a one-on-one interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Clinton answers questions from two CNN iReporters, explains why she's staying in the race and then opens up about her daughter Chelsea.

Finally, Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider reports on the results from a special election in Mississippi that may have troubling implications for the Republican Party in the fall.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily

Edwards will endorse Obama, CNN has confirmed.

(CNN) - CNN has confirmed that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama shortly at a Michigan campaign event.

The endorsement could help Obama reach out to white, blue-collar voters - a demographic group that Obama has failed to capture, most notably in the recent Pennsylvania and West Virginia primaries.

Edwards received 7 percent of the vote in Tuesday's West Virginia contest.

The former North Carolina senator had campaigned on the message that he was standing up for the little guy, the people who are not traditionally given a voice in Washington, and that he would do more to fight special interests.

After dropping out of the race on January 30, Edwards asked both Clinton and Obama to make poverty a central issue of the general election and a future Democratic administration, something both agreed to do.

Full story

Edwards says Clinton needs to be careful.

(CNN) - John Edwards still says he is remaining neutral in the Democratic presidential race, but the onetime candidate all but said Sunday it is impossible for Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination, and warned the New York senator not to damage the party in the primary campaign's final stretch.

Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Edwards said Clinton has to be “has to be really careful that she’s not damaging our prospects," with continuing to take jabs at Obama.

"She doesn't need my advice, she knows this full well," Edwards said. "If she makes the case for herself, which she's completely entitled to do, she has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects, the Democratic Party, and our cause, for the fall."

Edwards also praised Clinton for the "strength and fortitude she has shown."

"I know how hard it is to get up and go out there every day, speak to the media, speak to crowds, when people are urging you to get out of the race. I mean, it's a very hard place to be in," he said. “But she's shown a lot of strength about that."

But the former North Carolina senator all but said her chances for winning the White House are over.

"The math is very, very hard for her," he said regarding her deficit in delegates to Obama. "The problem is, I think, you can no longer make a compelling case for the math.”

According to CNN's latest estimate, Clinton and Obama are now dead even in superdelegate support and Obama holds an overall 167-delegate lead.

Asked directly if Clinton should quit her White House bids, Edwards said, "I think it's a judgment that she has to make. And I think she's in a very, very tough place.”

John Edwards said the math isn't working in Clinton's favor.

(CNN) – John Edwards still isn’t backing a candidate in this year’s Democratic primary race – but it looks like he might be ready to pick a winner.

The former presidential candidate told interviewers on NBC and MSNBC that Barack Obama will probably top the Democratic ticket this fall.

Hillary Clinton has said that she can still win the nomination – but "it's very difficult to make the math work," said Edwards.

Which one of the remaining contenders is best-equipped to beat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain? Edwards tried to avoid picking between the two – then chose Obama, because he said the Illinois senator was the probable Democratic nominee.

He added that he worried the continuing campaign could take a toll on the party’s presidential chances. “I think it’s fine for Hillary to keep making the case for her,” said the former North Carolina senator. “But when that shifts to everything that is wrong with him, then we’re doing damage instead of being helpful.”

Edwards has been heavily wooed by both the Clinton and Obama campaigns since he ended his presidential run in January, but has not publicly endorsed either candidate.

Obama held a conference call with Edwards delegates on Thursday afternoon.

(CNN) - After a morning spent courting superdelegates in Washington, Barack Obama convened a conference call Thursday afternoon to reach out to pledged delegates in South Carolina committed to former candidate John Edwards.

Two Edwards delegates on the call said Obama discussed his vision for the presidency and told the delegation he looks forward to working with them at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Ed Turlington, an Edwards adviser from North Carolina who committed to Obama in April, participated in the conference call, as did former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, an Obama backer.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the call was simply an opportunity for the Democratic frontrunner "to give folks an update on the campaign and a chance to ask questions."

Several South Carolina Democrats familiar with the Edwards delegation said a handful of the former senator's eight pledged delegates in the state are considering throwing their support to Obama.

Edwards finished third in the South Carolina primary on January 29 before dropping out of the presidential race. He was awarded eight delegates and one alternate delegate, all of whom were named last weekend at the state party convention in Columbia. Obama earned 25 delegates from his primary victory. Clinton won 12.

John Moylan, an Edwards confidante who was tapped as the alternate delegate to the convention, described the discussion as a little more than courtesy call.

"It was less suspicious than it sounds," said Moylan, who served as South Carolina state director for the Edwards campaign. "We made clear that we were committed to John Edwards."

"He basically told us, 'I respect your commitment to John Edwards, and I look forward to working with you guys,'" he said.

Moylan said Clinton associates have inquired about arranging a similar conference call, but that Clinton herself has not held any talks with the Edwards delegates.

Bonior ran John Edwards' campaign.

(CNN) - Former Michigan Rep. David Bonior, who served as John Edwards campaign manager, will endorse Barack Obama for president, an Obama spokesman confirms to CNN.

The endorsement was first reported Thursday morning by ABCNews.com.

John and Elizabeth Edwards are joined by their children in New Orleans as Edwards announced the end of his presidential campaign in January.

(CNN) – Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, is picking sides in the Democratic nomination race – at least with respect to health care. In an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” she threw her support behind Sen. Hillary Clinton’s health care plan.

“In order to ensure that we have universal coverage, we need to say everybody has to join,” Edwards told ABC’s Robin Roberts. “So, for that reason, the mandates that Sen. Clinton is talking about, I think are going to be more successful in achieving the goal,” she added.

Both health care plans have the same goals, said Edwards, but “I just have more confidence in Sen. Clinton’s policies than Sen. Obama’s on this particular issue.”

Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama remain in a pitched battle for the Democration nomination and the difference in their respective health care plans on the issue of individual coverage mandates – Clinton’s plan requires them across-the-board while Obama’s plan only mandates coverage for children – is one of only a few policy distinctions between them, a difference Clinton has stressed in debates and on the stump.

Elizabeth Edwards, a cancer survivor, has made positive comments about Clinton’s health care plan before, even noting last September that it resembles her husband’s own proposal. She has also criticized Sen. John McCain’s proposal for permitting insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions. John Edwards, who ended his presidential bid in late January, had made the issue a central one in his campaign.

Despite being lobbied by both Clinton and Obama, John Edwards has yet to make an endorsement. “We think that what we have to offer is not so much an endorsement as a perspective on what we’ve found as we’ve crossed the country on what people think are important issues and the solutions that seemed most realistic,” said Elizabeth Edwards Wednesday.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd both endorsed Obama after ending their presidential campaigns while Sen. Joe Biden, like Edwards, still has not endorsed one of the two remaining Democratic presidential hopefuls.

–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Edwards said Sunday he's in it for the long haul.

(CNN) – If Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton come calling about the #2 spot on the Democratic ticket, former presidential candidate John Edwards just may let the phone ring this time.

Edwards took the role as John Kerry’s running mate in 2004. But asked Thursday if he would accept his party’s vice presidential nomination if offered this year, Edwards answered firmly, “no.”

His comment came in a question and answer session with former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson after they addressed the CTIA Wireless 2008 convention in Las Vegas. Edwards’ response was posted on the convention’s Web site.

His demeanor and face never changed as some in the audience laughed at his blunt response. An Edwards spokesman told CNN he could not elaborate on the answer.

Thompson, asked what his answer would be, said, “well, the same. It’s presumptuous to answer the question you have not been asked by the only person who counts.”

Edwards also declined to say if he would endorse Obama or Clinton. Thompson joked he would say who he was voting for if Edwards revealed his choice. He responded, “the only thing I know for sure is we’re not voting for the same guy.” After a long pause, he added, “or woman.”

Reuters reports Edwards ruled out running as the vice presidential candidate.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he will not accept the No. 2 spot on the Democratic presidential ticket, Reuters reports.

Edwards, who dropped out of the presidential race in January and has since remained neutral, said flatly "No" when asked by a reporter if he'd be willing to serve as the vice presidential candidate.

Edwards was the 2004 vice presidential nominee.

Edwards is meeting with both Obama and Clinton ahead of his decision when and who to endorse.

(CNN) – An expected meeting between Barack Obama and John Edwards Monday has been rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts, the Obama campaign confirms.

The two men were to discuss John Edwards' likely upcoming endorsement of either Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Clinton met with the former presidential candidate last Thursday. On Saturday night Edwards huddled with several longtime advisers to discuss many issues, including which candidate he should endorse.

The Obama campaign did not give any sense of when the meeting may now take place.

– CNN's Chris Welch and Candy Crowley contributed to this report

Sens. Clinton and Obama, and former Sen. Edwards before the CNN Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

(CNN) — CNN has learned that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards met with Hillary Clinton Thursday in North Carolina, and is meeting with Barack Obama Monday, to discuss a possible primary endorsement.

The Thursday meeting, which took place at Edwards’ home in Chapel Hill, was followed by a Saturday night session during which the former North Carolina senator and several longtime advisers discussed many issues, including which candidate he should endorse.

The Obama campaign is enjoying a weekend of positive news, after winning four contests in Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, and Maine. An endorsement by Edwards would provide additional momentum going into the next round of primaries.

At a Chapel Hill party yesterday for Edwards supporters, he gave no indication who he might endorse, or whether that endorsement is imminent. Some advisers are encouraging him not to endorse.

The former candidate is weighing a number of considerations before making his choice – including electability, and who will best promote his ideas.

There are policy considerations at play: there is a sense within the Edwards camp that Clinton's policies could be better for working class Americans. But Obama's anti-lobbyist proposals are more aligned with Edwards’ politics.

In response to a CNN report that Elizabeth Edwards may favor Obama over Clinton, sources close to the Edwards family flatly deny that she favors one candidate over the other.

(CNN) – Now America knows what John Edwards is doing with his newfound spare time.While his former presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are busy computing delegate-math with their staffers, a relaxed Edwards was spotted with his son Jack at the bi-annual Duke vs. North Carolina showdown on Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.The game was held at the Dean Dome, a few miles from Edwards' home in Raleigh. Edwards, chatting with another basketball fan, sported his familiar blue shirt and blazer look. Jack wore a North Carolina t-shirt.Edwards is a long-time Tar Heels fan who attended North Carolina State as an undergraduate, and law school at the University of North Carolina. (In other words: probably not a big Duke fan.)

– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

John Edwards ended his White House run this week.

(CNN) - Sources close to John Edwards tell CNN he will not endorse either of his former presidential rivals before Super Tuesday. "That's just not something he's going to do," said one source.

The former North Carolina senator’s endorsement would be a coveted prize. His exit from the race leaves unions, editorial boards, elected officials and voters who had backed his run suddenly up for grabs. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are aggressively courting all of those groups ahead of next week’s crucial Super Tuesday contests in 22 states.

During last night's CNN debate, both candidates repeatedly acknowledged the former candidate's efforts to make the fight against poverty a priority for the Democratic Party.

Friday, the Obama campaign boasted that it was ahead in the race to nab former Edwards supporters, pointing to new endorsements from elected officials in at least eight Super Tuesday states, editorial boards like the Fresno Bee, and labor heavyweights like the Transportation Workers Union and the California branch of the Service Employees International Union, all of whom had previously backed Edwards.

(updated with new reporting 2 p.m. Saturday)

–CNN’s Jessica Yellin, Candy Crowley and Suzanne Malveaux

(CNN) – Democrat Barack Obama Friday won the backing of a major California Union that had supported John Edwards.

The California chapter of the SEIU, which boasts a membership of 650,000, hailed the Illinois senator as the candidate that best advances our vision for a new America united in hope."

"Obama's pledge to ensure working families have a strong voice, that health care is not a luxury and that our children are given the tools to succeed best represents the values that our members care about," Annelle Grajeda, president of the California chapter said. "SEIU represents 650,000 workers in California, including nurses, janitors, librarians, homecare workers, security officers, technicians, social workers and others."

"Sen. Obama will partner with working men and women to further the American Dream and ensure our children have a bright future," she added.

– CNN Producer Alexander Mooney

Obama praised Edwards in a statement Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Democrat Barack Obama praised John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Wednesday, in a statement issued shortly after news surfaced the former North Carolina senator plans to drop his presidential bid.

“John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news," he said. "At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters – the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington."

"John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this – that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose," Obama continued. "So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America."

Edwards is getting out of the White House race.

(CNN) - Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, CNN has learned.

The former senator has told top advisors about his decision. It is expected he will announce it at a speech in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 1p.m. Wednesday.

Edwards has trailed former first lady Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the early primaries.

Full story

– CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, John King, and Jessica Yellin

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – Former Sen. John Edwards urged his supporters on
to the Super Tuesday contests following a third-place finish Saturday in his native state's Democratic primary.

"Now the three of us move on to February 5 where millions of Americans will cast their vote and help shape the future of this party and help shape the future of America," Edwards said in a short speech after finishing behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in South Carolina.

"Our campaign from the very beginning has been about one central thing, and that is to give voice to the millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this democracy."