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Not since Bill Clinton challenged the definition of "is" has so much hinged on a very short word. John Edwards appears to basing much of his defense, which begins today in a North Carolina courtroom, on the legal interpretation of the word "the." Edwards has listened to three weeks of testimony meant to prove that he violated federal campaign finance laws by using nearly $1million in donations to hide his mistress Rielle Hunter and her pregnancy during his bid for the 2008 presidential election and in the months after he dropped out -- but was still angling to be vice...

<p>RALEIGH, North Carolina – A federal grand jury has indicted two-time presidential candidate John Edwards over massive sums of money spent to keep his mistress in hiding during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.</p>

<p>Breaking: Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former Presidential Candidate John Edwards.</p>

The executive editor of the National Enquirer says he plans to enter his paper's work on the John Edwards scandal for a Pulitzer Prize. Don't laugh. "It's clear we should be a contender for this," Barry Levine said by phone Thursday, hours after the former presidential candidate admitted what the newspaper had been reporting all along: that he is the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. "The National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, was able to publish this reporting." Although the staff never doubted its reports that Edwards had fathered a baby girl with his former campaign videographer, Levine said, "there is...

A federal grand jury is convening to investigate former presidential candidate John Edwards in connection with possible campaign finance violations related to paying his mistress, Rielle Hunter, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively. At least four former Edwards campaign workers recently received secret subpoenas to testify in Raleigh, N.C., according to a close source in Washington, D.C. One witness has confirmed receipt of the government document and has already contacted a lawyer, according to the source.

Published: Apr 03, 2009 02:00 AM Modified: Apr 03, 2009 05:48 AM John Edwards investigation reported From Staff Reports The National Enquirer reported on its Web site that a federal grand jury in Raleigh is investigating whether former Sen. John Edwards violated campaign-finance laws in his bid for president in 2008 by making payments to Rielle Hunter, his admitted mistress. U.S. Attorney George Holding said Thursday that he "was not going to confirm or deny any investigation" regarding Edwards. A federal grand jury was convened in Raleigh on Wednesday. Grand jury proceedings are secret. Such grand juries have the power...

Story at link.

The good news: DNA testing has confirmed that John Edwards is not the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. The bad news: The father is Bill Clinton. Ha ha -- just kidding! It's almost impossible to get pregnant by having the type of sex Bill Clinton prefers. Also, by now, everyone has heard the news that Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, has refused to grant a paternity test. I wonder if Edwards knew that when he was making his chesty offer to take a paternity test? Edwards gushed to ABC's Bob Woodruff: "I would welcome participating in a paternity test, be happy...

Democratic strategists loudly insist that the tawdry sex scandal consuming John Edwards will do no damage to the Obama campaign. Despite the very public embraces between the former North Carolina senator and the presumptive nominee, Obama apologists (can we coin a new term-- "Obamapologists"?) dismiss the Edwards case as an irrelevant distraction. After all, they say that their man never seriously considered his former rival as a potential running mate or even for a major cabinet post, so the unfolding disgrace of a one-time elected official bears no connection to Barack's visionary campaign of hope, change, and global redemption. For...

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards will outline a plan Sunday to provide immediate relief to families struggling with high heating oil bills and to ensure affordable prices in the future.Noting that home heating oil prices in New Hampshire have surpassed $3 a gallon, the former North Carolina senator is calling on Congress to release some of the nation's home heating oil and crude oil reserves as a way to bring down prices by increasing supply. He also is urging Congress to fully fund the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, according to a copy of his plan provided to The...

The only "crisis" in health care in this country is that doctors are paid too little. (Also they've come up with nothing to help that poor Dennis Kucinich.) But the Democratic Party treats doctors like they're Klan members. They wail about how much doctors are paid and celebrate the trial lawyers who do absolutely nothing to make society better, but swoop in and steal from the most valuable members of society. Maybe doctors could get the Democrats to like them if they started suing their patients. It's only a matter of time before the best and brightest students forget about...

Recently, a friend wondered if John Edwards might not be the biggest hypocrite in our nation’s political history. I was taken aback. With so many Democrats vying for the honor, is it possible that the poster boy for the Hair Stylists of America, a man who’s held office for a scant six years, could beat out a bunch of seasoned veterans who’ve been in the public eye for several decades? If so, it could be the biggest upset since Truman bested Dewey back in 1948. For those questioning why I immediately dismissed Republicans from the competition, it’s because when it...

He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he'd never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he'd do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade's ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost...

There’s a little hustler in every politician. But sometimes there’s a little politician in a hustler. Such is the case with John Edwards. Last week, we learned that Edwards received $55,000 to give a speech, “Poverty, the Great Moral Issue Facing America,” at the University of California, Davis. The poor students who attended were charged more than $17 a ticket. Earlier this month, it was reported that despite the fact he denounces predatory lending and subprime mortgages for the poor, Edwards made nearly $500,000 as a consultant to a hedge fund involved in that business. The former senator defended his...

Two years ago, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, gearing up for his second run at the Democratic presidential nomination, gave a speech decrying the "two different economies in this country: one for wealthy insiders and then one for everybody else." Four months later, he began working for the kind of firm that to many Wall Street critics embodies the economy of wealthy insiders -- a hedge fund. Edwards became a consultant for Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based firm known mainly for its hedge funds, just as the funds were gaining prominence in the financial world ... run...

GREENSBORO, N.C. | Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Tuesday his campaign would seek to eliminate its contribution to global warming by becoming "carbon neutral." Speaking to a crowd of college students at Bennett College, the former North Carolina senator urged all Americans to help reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. "It's time for the president of the United States to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war," Edwards said. "This is an emergency. This requires action now." Edwards said his campaign will consult with experts to calculate its total carbon emissions -...

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards acknowledged Monday that he may have been too inexperienced in national politics for his White House run in 2004. The former North Carolina senator was serving his first and only Senate term four years ago when he declared himself a presidential candidate. During a forum at Wake Forest University on Monday, Edwards said he might agree with critics who said he left Congress too soon to seek the presidency.

The John Edwards who last week announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination is a very different contender from the fresh-faced young senator who in 2004 bid for the party nod and eventually secured a place on the fall ticket as the vice presidential nominee. By any measure, Edwards has a lot more to offer progressives than he did in 2004. That potential to appeal to the party's left flank is essential for the former senator, who will need an ideological base as he struggles for attention in a race where while Edwards runs strong in polls from early...

Former Senator and John Kerry running mate John Edwards hates Wal-Mart. He says they're unfair to their labor and generally a stain on America.But they also have lots of Playstation 3's at reasonable prices! What to do?What you do is try and get one at Wal-Mart and then blame a young staffer for the blunder, which is exactly what happened.The funniest part is that only the day before, Edwards spoke to an anti Wal-Mart group: [Edwards] spoke Wednesday to supporters of union-backed WakeUpWalMart.com on a conference call launching the group's holiday season campaign to pressure Wal-Mart for better labor standards.In...

"Lamont, right, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Connecticut, shakes hands and speaks with former U.S. Sen. and the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 John Edwards after Edwards spoke on Lamont's behalf at a rally in New Haven, Conn., Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006."