Democrat scandal: potential Obama VP nominee out of the running over alleged love child

Mainstream media organisations have picked up on a story the National Enquirer has been running for some months. It is alleged that John Edwards, whose wife is dying of cancer, has a mistress and has fathered a love child

This story can be picked up from a nuber of sources. Today’s Independent on Sunday reports:

‘John Edwards was fighting for his political future yesterday as America’s mainstream media began reporting a colourful scandal involving his alleged mistress, a disputed “secret love child”, and an altercation at a Beverly Hills hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The married former Democratic presidential candidate, who is among leading contenders to be Barack Obama’s running mate, saw his private life given more attention than he would like when Fox News claimed to have “independently verified” details of last week’s National Enquirer story headlined: “John Edwards caught with mistress and love child.”

Rumours of the alleged affair have been doing the rounds of Washington for months. In October, Mr Edwards was forced publicly to deny a different Enquirer story, which claimed that Ms Hunter was six months pregnant with his child. “It’s completely untrue. Ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve been in love with the same woman for 30-plus years, and as anyone who has been around us knows, she’s an extraordinary human being: warm, loving, beautiful, sexy and as good a person as I’ve ever known.”’