Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards has admitted to an extramarital affair that is certain to end his political career.

Edwards ran for the highest office in the land this past primary season and now finds himself dogging questions about his conduct during what will prove to be his last campaign.

His timing is worth noting. Tabloids were running stories detailing the affair as early as February, but the mainstream media never grabbed hold of the story. The former Senator from North Carolina admitted on ABC News show Nightline on Friday August 8 and said “I am responsible for it. I alone am responsible for it.”

With the 2008 Olympic Games beginning in Beijing, Edwards admission of the affair is likely to get lost on the massive world media coverage of the athletic contests conducted in China.

The woman in the middle of this story, Rielle Hunter, had been brought into the Edwards presidential campaign inner-circle because of the fact she was creating a documentary on the Edwards campaign.

Most notable of his interview quotes detailing the affair was Edwards’ assertion that the entire cheating fiasco was the result of “an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe that you can do whatever you want.”

Edwards’ entire statement:

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99 percent honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, 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 and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

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Looks as if Barack Obama’s trip abroad had its merit. The Illinois Senator and Democratic nominee for the presidency is currently leading 47 to 41 in the latest national poll.

National polls are wonderful, but if we’ve learned anything in the last eight years is that the election comes down to states. Delegates, the magic number of 271 needed to clinch the White House. Bush barely got it twice and as the electoral map stands now, even 47 to 41 does not describe the reality on the ground.

Senator John McCain is doing surprisingly well in these polls considering he’s a member of the party that has an approval rating below 30 percent.

The key is the state by state match-up that will define the fall campaign. In polls in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Colorado and Minnesota, the difference between the candidates is negligible. Therefore, for either side to get too worked up over poll numbers in August is silly.

Even after the conventions later this month and early next month, that bounce will not last as we get into October and the real campaigning starts.

Bring it on!

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On August 23 1963, Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and made an iconic statement.

He had a dream.

That same day, Barack Obama was born. Tuesday, June 3, 2008, Barack Obama became the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States.

MLK’s dream has been furthered.

As Barack Obama addressed a standing room only crowd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he told the 18,000 in attendance that history had been made and that his supporters lay at the root of this historic night.

Obama called for unity. Whether Clinton gave it is hardly a question.

Obama is the first African American of any major U.S. political party in its history to secure their party’s nomination. The same year that Obama was born, there were race segregation and blatant violations of civil rights. Now he has the opportunity to lead that same country.

The world has been watching the United States throughout this campaign and when they arise Wednesday morning, they will look to America in a little different way. Here is Barack Obama, a son of a man born in Africa, who has grown up to earn the right to be one of the two candidates to compete to lead the free world.

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The California Supreme Court threw the gay marriage debate into the middle of the presidential campaign. With their Thursday ruling overturning two state laws, crowds gathered all over the state to hear the news, which resulted in jubilation.

The overturning of a lower court’s blocking of gay marriage was a victory for tens of thousands across the state seeking the same rights as heterosexual couples.

In 2004, with another Presidential campaign in full swing, it was the Massachusetts Supreme Court that put candidate John Kerry on the hot seat to respond to how he would act on the issue as America’s leader. The same thing is surely to happen to either Democrat that emerges from the primaries with the nomination.

The 4 to 3 ruling becomes the law in 30 days. Expect the courthouses across the Golden State to be flooded with marriage requests from couples who were previously prevented from participating in a ceremony that above all, celebrates love.

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Many expected it would be a landslide, but the magnitude of that landslide was immense.

The West Virginia Democratic primary was held yesterday and Senator Hillary Clinton won by over 30 points. Rival Senator Barack Obama was not even in West Virginia yesterday knowing that losing would be a foregone conclusion.

From Missouri (a state he already won), Obama wished Clinton well and even hinted that the upcoming contest in Kentucky on Tuesday will also be a blowout.

Obama forged on and acted like a candidate who has already sewn up the nomination. Many believe, he has.

One of those who don’t share that opinion is Clinton. She vowed to go on in the Democratic contest all the way to the last primary that is held in June. Then what…is anyone’s guess.

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The symbol of all things arctic, the polar bear, was added Wednesday to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife department’s protected list. Placing the iconic bear on the list means that it is within the realm of extinction.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made the announcement today that many had feared. As polar ice caps have melted, the polar bear has had little room for hunting, much less surviving. The government agency announcing this move today also signals a change in the administration’s thinking about global warming and that it truly exists.

Kempthorne has always tried to remove the list from even existing. He seems to have caved in to the realities of the world he is now witnessing.

Along the Canadian polar ice caps, the number of polar bears has dwindled to 25,000.

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Senator Hillary Clinton saw her delegate lead lower to two votes Friday as the defection to Senator Barack Obama continues.

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of Texas announced his support for Clinton yesterday, but it was the only plus in the campaign’s pocket on this day. The Senator from Illinois who leads in voted delegates thus far, picked up two more delegates yesterday from the Virgin Island delegation.

A late addition superdelegate, Krisi Cumming of Utah, announced late yesterday that she was supporting Obama as well.

This is how it has been for Clinton since Obama’s convincing victory in North Carolina coupled with Clinton’s barely-there win in Indiana on Tuesday. Wednesday began to call into question whether Clinton legitimately had any more shot at the nomination and the flood gates opened.

The once triple digit lead Clinton had over Obama is gone. With only three weeks remaining in the Democratic primary season, it looks like America will not see its first female president, but may see its first African-American.

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First daughter Jenna Bush is getting married on Saturday at the family’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Jenna has been all over the press lately, including Larry King’s CNN studio with her mom, Laura, promoting her children’s book that promotes reading, “Read All About It.”

This weekend, the attention on Jenna will solely be her as bride. As her father, President Bush, walks her down the aisle, Jenna is joining a tradition of First Daughter weddings dating back through American history. She’s marrying Republican activist Henry Hager in an outdoor wedding with expected guests near two-hundred.  

Although this First Daughter’s nuptials will be much smaller and further away from Washington, D.C. than most have been.

Many have been in the White House itself and lavish beyond belief. Jenna is going with the more sedate country girl wedding that will still have its share of glamour. She in no way is like Lynda Byrd Johnson married a then-unknown Captain in the Marines, Chuck Robb. Robb went on to become Governor of Virginia and also serve as its Senator.

Reflecting Jenna’s low-key personality and style, the bride insisted on a down-home, and laid back wedding in her home state. Maid of Honor, her sister, Barbara Bush welcomed the idea as her twin shares her penchant for shying the spotlight.

Stay tuned to The Wire as we get the details on the first Presidential wedding in over 40 years.

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As the primary race for the Democrats has gotten nastier, each contest becomes even more vital.

Tuesday saw Indiana and North Carolina take its turn in this Ferris wheel of a primary season for the Democrats. As Barack Obama mentioned in his victory speech from North Carolina, this is a campaign that, thus far, has lasted 15 months.

Obama had to be thrilled with his winning by double-digits in Tuesday’s North Carolina primary. If Hillary Clinton was to stay in the race, experts felt, she needed to make that state close. It wasn’t.

Clinton meanwhile was basking in the glow of an approximate 30,000-vote victory in the Hoosier state. Although pundits from across the networks thought she may actually withdraw from the race today, Clinton showed up at an event in West Virginia that was supposed to feature her daughter, Chelsea.

Mrs. Clinton’s entire schedule had been cancelled as of late last night. Many felt that by her cancelling her entire media interview schedule for Wednesday, it meant Clinton was leaving the race.

Where it goes from here is simple…West Virginia where the Mountaineers will determine what’s next.

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A U.K. study released today has found that American children are prescribed anti-psychotic medicines at six-times the rate of kids in Britain.

At a time where psychiatrists and parents are both wondering about the over-medicated situation of our children, this report should certainly further the debate.

Many experts believe that this study is pointless because of the fact that prescription rates for these drugs are up on both sides of the Atlantic. If any study needs to be undertaken, these experts argue, it is one to focus on the long term affects of the anti-psychotic drugs for ADD and other ailments.

On the list of the most used drugs are those utilized to treat autism and hyperactivity. The study covered over 500 children and began in 1992 through the University of London’s pharmacy school.

In a stark disparity, a U.S. study released last year had found that the numbers for American children taking these medications actually has increased at a much lower rate that the ones reported in the U.K. study. The U.S. study concluded when comparing years 1996 and 2001 that yes, the numbers have doubled, but not at the six times-rate that U.K. doctors are claiming.

In 2001, it was determined that 45 U.S. kids out of every 10,000 were prescribed anti-psychotic medications compared to in 1996 where that ratio was 23 per 10,000.

The entire study can be found in the May edition of the journal Pediatrics.

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