John Edwards

Johnny Reid Edwards born June 10 1953 is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a US senator from North Carolina He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry losing to incumbents George W Bush and Dick Cheney He also was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008 Edwards defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in North Carolinas 1998 Senate election Toward the end of his sixyear term he opted to retire from the Senate and focus on a Democratic campaign in the 2004 presidential election He eventually became the 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president the running mate of presidential nominee Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts Following Kerrys loss to incumbent President George W Bush Edwards began working fulltime at the One America Committee a political action committee he established in 2001 and was appointed director of the Center on Poverty Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law He was also a consultant for Fortress Investment Group LLC Following his 2008 presidential campaign Edwards was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 3 2011 on six felony charges of violating multiple federal campaign contribution laws to cover up an extramarital affair to which he eventually admitted He was found not guilty on one count and the judge declared a mistrial on the remaining five charges as the jury was unable to come to an agreement The Justice Department dropped the remaining charges and did not attempt to retry Edwards Though he was not convicted of any crime the revelation that he had engaged in an extramarital affair and fathered a child while his wife Elizabeth was dying of cancer gravely damaged his public image and essentially ended his political career