The National Enquirer spent months chasing John Edwards and digging into his relationship with Rielle Hunter before busting him spending the night in a hotel with the woman and the former Democratic presidential candidate's alleged love child. It was impressive and quintessential tabloid work. But there's no reason the paper should have had the scandal all to itself. Isn't this the sort of thing traditional newspaper tabs like the Post used to cover? And even starchy broadsheets should have had some interest — it was the Miami Herald that busted Gary Hart in 1988 (when his mistress left his townhouse — shades of the Edwards affair) and the Times that broke the story of Eliot Spitzer's whoring earlier this year.

Oh hey, looks like now that someone knows he'll never be president, he's relaxing a bit. John Edwards, the man who became a fiery populist in 2007 or so but still could not interest voters, is in a spot of trouble! Drudge: "NATIONAL ENQUIRER CATCHES JOHN EDWARDS AT BEVERLY HILTON." Now. Matt won't say what he was "caught" doing, but we hear he was with a lady. Sigh. This is going to make us look quite the fool for being skeptical of those last Edwards rumors. Ha ha oh shit, the Enquirer story is up and it involves a LOVE CHILD.

John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama tonight in a masterstroke of Clintonian gladhanding. The timing of the endorsement certainly shouldn't improve Edwards' reputation as a slick, ambulance-chasing lawyer. He waited until the Democratic presidential hopeful had a virtual lock on the nomination, but not so long that his endorsement would be totally useless. Thus, he preserved the chance to be a part of Hillary Clinton's cabinet for as long as that looked possible, but still managed to score some points with Obama. I'm not saying he planned it all along, because who knew Clinton would stay in the fight this long, but he certainly seized the opportunity she presented to offer a very-low-risk endorsement with significant potential personal upside. Also: Major gripe with the Edwards endorsement coverage in the Times and Washington Post:

If you want to be president these days, it's not enough to have an appealing platform, strong public speaking skills or even to look polished on television. You also have to prove you're at least slightly cool. Blame Bill Clinton for blowing the saxophone on Arsenio Hall in 1992. It's a measure of how important this yardstick has become that both Democratic presidential candidates showed up on Colbert Report last night, plus third-place John Edwards, who has been out of the race for months. Hillary Clinton was funny in a skit in which she fixes a video screen, even if she didn't find the breakthrough moment her husband did in 1992. Barack Obama was a bit more aloof, perhaps strategically so; he not only appeared via satellite but also hewed much closer to his campaign personality than Clinton. Edwards was by yards the funniest, probably because he has the least to lose. Evaluate would-be leaders of the free world on their ability to crack comedy-show jokes after the jump, where you'll find video of Clinton, Obama and Edwards on Colbert.

Did you watch the Clinton/Obama debate last night? We didn't! But apparently it went like this: Hillary was all "Obama is a plagiarist hope you can Xerox lol" and the crowd sorta booed but the media decided it was the best zinger ever and Obama was ok but no zingers at all! And Hillary had a rousing and inspiring closing speech that she totally plagiarized from "Lonesome" John Edwards as the following YouTube clip clearly shows.

Democratic primary

Today Iowans flock, scamper and waddle to the cauci to help elect the next president of America. Some of those Iowans are gay people. This hasn't gone unnoticed by Hillary Clinton. Trolling Gay.com, HuffPo gay Alex Geana meets a man named "waverlydan" who says, "i have chatted with at least 20-25 guys who are in iowa working or volunteering for caucus ALL of them are working or volunteering for Hillary." But the Iowa gays actually prefer another man! Ummm, guess who.

Slate shows impressive timing in choosing this week to focus their pointless and vaguely offensive "First Mates" series on Elizabeth Edwards. "Why Elizabeth Edwards Isn't Hillary Clinton"? Because when she proves to be more ambitious and driven than her smooth-talking husband, people don't respond to her with misogyny and him with disdain, apparently. Which means they might actually give a shit if and when they hear that he fooled around on her! [Slate]

So this nutty hippie lady maybe fell in love with John Edwards and they maybe had an affair and then John Edwards' definitely hired her to do some work for his campaign despite her lack of qualifications and then they erased all traces of the work and then a year went by and then the Huffington Post and the National Enquirer both sorta ran with a sex scandal story and then everyone involved denied it. You caught up? Good! Radar wants to know why no "legitimate" news outlets are covering it. Good question! Slate blogger Mickey Kaus has sure enjoyed himself with it! But Edwards is so damn nice and so clean cut and lovable and his wife has cancer and maybe everyone just doesn't want to believe it? Or else maybe his campaign has proven so inept at matching Obama and Hillary in fundraising and polls that no one sees any point in piling on with a story that is so far mostly innuendo and maybe some DAMNING EMAILS from a demonstrably crazy lady.

Ever since it awarded a $4.5 million book deal to then-Speaker Newt Gingrich while Congress was preparing to address issues of media ownership, News Corp. has vigorously denied that any publishing arrangements it makes with influential political figures (Republican Senators Lott, Specter, Hegel, and Hutchison; Supreme Court Justice Thomas) are some kind of favor-buying ploy or campaign donation. So it was sort of weird to see this in the Post, News Corp.'s sister paper to the Wall Street Journal, today!

John Edwards: "I'm white. Down here in my pants? A cock! Let's be honest, who else ya gonna vote for? The black dude? The vagina-haver? I don't THINK SO." [NYO]

Is appearing on the cover of Men's Vogue really the wisest move for a presidential candidate battling perceptions that he's a pretty lightweight? [WWD]

• Yes, former N'Sync member Lance Bass — formerly known as the "one that wasn't Justin" — is out of the closet. Go and watch video footage of him being gay! [TMZ]
• After going into false labor, Britney Spears realizes she needs to "cut down on the Cheetos." She needed to go to the hospital for the tip-off? Wouldn't a mirror have sufficed? [Scoop]
• John Edwards sucks up to Russell Simmons for the African-American vote, accompanying him to his daily Jivamukti Yoga class. If there's one candidate we could tolerate in a downward dog, it would have to be Mr. Sunshine. [Lowdown]
• Tori Spelling won't even inherit a million dollars of her late father's $500 million estate. It's suspected that Tori's bitchtastic mother cut her out of her father's will, leaving poor Tori to survive on 90210 residuals and So NoTORIous peanuts. [Us Weekly]
• Christie Brinkley's philandering fourth husband Peter Cook once refused to give Alexa Joel, Brinkley's daughter with Billy Joel, a ride home at 11 PM. Cruel — god forbid she ride with her father at that hour. [Page Six]
• Madonna must shit only where no one has shit before: she requests a brand-new toilet seat, wrapped in plastic, at every venue where she performs. [R&M (last item)]
• B. Smith, "the black Martha Stewart" (is that an oxymoron?), is jockeying to replace Star Jones as the token woman of color on The View. [Page Six]

· Universal isn't hosting its annual post-Grammy bash for fear of a rap-rivalry shootout. [Page Six]
· Page Six discovers the Hipster Handbook. [Page Six]
· Tina Louise was spotted tearing open a box of envelopes at Staples on Broadway and Broome, "taking a few to the cashier, and getting annoyed when she was informed she'd have to buy the whole box." [Page Six]
· Courtney Love strips during a photo shoot ("By the time the shoot was over, Courtney had set fire to things, poured Champagne over her head and had her bikini line waxed in a room full of people."); John Edwards is schmoozing moneyed New Yorkers; and Sharon Bush was having dinner at Le Cirque during the brother-in-law's State of the Union address. [NY Daily News]
· Ted Turner's getting married and ex-Sicor chief, Carlo Salvi, has purchased a stake in the Women modeling agency. Salvi's determined to make it work, as he's been the "pigeon" on other deals and needs to prove himself. Friends insist it's not about the girls. [The Word]