US media wakes up to Edwards scandal

It has taken a grainy photograph obtained under mysterious circumstances, but finally the mainstream media in the US has deigned to cover the story that the prominent Democrat, John Edwards, a possible running mate for Barack Obama, allegedly has a love child. When scandal sheet the National Enquirer broke a story last month claiming that Edwards was having an affair with Reille Hunter, a 44-year-old Democrat campaign worker, and may be the father of her daughter, Frances, the rest of the American press steered well clear of it. As The First Post reported, there were suspicions that the liberal media wanted to kill the story stone dead.

But the Enquirer has followed up with more alleged evidence - the indistinct photograph of Edwards, whose wife Elizabeth is fighting breast cancer, cuddling the baby in a Los Angeles hotel room last month. And now the story has, at last, been picked up by newspapers and radio and TV stations across the country.

Edwards, who dropped out of the Democrat nomination race in January after coming a poor third behind Obama and Hillary Clinton, is finally being put under pressure by his own supporters to explain himself. They fear the scandal, denied by Edwards, will take the attention off Obama's campaign and taint the boy wonder.

Edwards, is due to make his bid to be Obama's running mate in a major speech at the forthcoming Democrat convention. But Don Fowler, the former party national committee chairman, warns that Edwards's political standing is falling by the day. He says: "If there is not an explanation that's satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is no, he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address at the convention."