John Edwards, who parlayed a populist message and his image as a devoted family man into two serious runs for president, derailed his political career Friday when he admitted to an extramarital affair that he had repeatedly lied about.
The former North Carolina senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate apologized in a statement for the affair and said he had "made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs." He said he took responsibility, but he also blamed his rapid political ascent.
"In the course of several campaigns," he said, "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."
Although he confirmed a romantic liaison "for a short period in 2006" with Rielle Hunter, who filmed videos for his campaign, Edwards denied that he is father of her baby. The allegation appeared last month in the National Enquirer, which wrote that it had followed Edwards to a rendezvous with Hunter and the baby at the Beverly Hills Hilton.
The acknowledged affair seems certain to kill any role for Edwards at the Democratic National Convention, set to begin Aug. 25 in Denver, and to eliminate him from consideration as Barack Obama's running mate or a member of an Obama Cabinet.
"I don't think he's going to be making a living in politics any time soon," said John J. Pitney Jr., a political analyst at Claremont McKenna College.
The National Enquirer first reported the alleged affair Oct. 11. Edwards, his aides and Hunter all denied it. But the tabloid continued to pursue the story. This week, it published a grainy photo purportedly showing Edwards holding the baby at the Beverly Hills hotel.
Edwards' admission Friday stunned supporters who had taken him at his word in his earlier denials, and it came as particularly sour news for admirers of his wife, Elizabeth, whose battle with cancer had become an integral part of Edwards' campaign and the family's story. The couple's first child, Wade, died in a car crash in 1996, and they decided to have two more children, who often joined them and their adult daughter on the campaign trail.
Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer just after her husband and Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry lost the 2004 presidential election. The couple announced in March 2007 that the disease had returned in a treatable but incurable form.
