John Edwards' disappearing act

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last updated 8 January 2015

He was once the golden boy of Democrat politics. But in the wake of his damaging sex scandal, the 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards has "literally disappeared from the national scene," says Diane Dimond in The Daily Beast, and is "becoming a ghost" in the area of North Carolina he calls home. The former senator's time, it seems, has been divided between brief visits with his children, hanging out in local bars and "huddling with legal advisers" on how best to "stave off a possible federal grand jury indictment" on $1 million in campaign funds he is alleged to have used to pay off one-time mistress Rielle Hunter. Dimond traveled to North Carolina to find out more about Edwards' post-scandal life:

"For the past two weeks, I’ve tried to piece together Edwards’ life in this self-imposed exile. According to multiple sources familiar with different parts of his life, it’s a lonely existence. With few real friends to turn to for counsel, he's also jettisoned most of his trusted advisers, including pollster Harrison Hickman. Those who’ve known him best say Edwards seems almost lost as to what to do with his life now that politics is no longer an option...

...Until recently, according to sources who include two members of law enforcement at a nearby police station, he sometimes frequented local watering holes, such as The Wooden Nickel and the Saratoga Grill. On these forays, according to these sources, he liked to chat up pretty single women, a glass of white wine in hand....But even those diversions have stopped over the past six weeks, according to everyone I spoke with."