Edwards Brought Girlfriend on Presidential Announcement Tour

Bob Herbert sees phallic symbols

You'd think this moron would have at least attempted to get his story straight before going on national television and lying through his teeth.

Then again, he built a career doing that in court.

Photographs distributed by wire services and posted online by technology blogger Robert Scoble show that former North Carolina senator John Edwards took his mistress Rielle Hunter with him on the plane during his late 2006 presidential campaign announcement tour. As can be seen in this Dec. 28, 2006 photo (that's Hunter in the jeans and jester hat, as can be seen more clearly in this side-profile photo), Hunter stood off to the side of the national press corps filming Edwards as the former Democratic vice presidential nominee announced his second bid for the presidency in New Orleans.

Here she is drinking from a cup as Edwards is interviewed by the press. More photos of her at Edwards's presidential campaign kickoff can be found here and here, where she's shown laughing with Edwards's young staffers.

Writes Scoble on his Flickr site under a photo of Hunter he uploaded Dec. 30, 2006, "I was hanging out with John Edwards and crew as he announced he was running for President of the United States. This photo was taken in New Orleans as Edwards gave press interviews on the lawn of a house that was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina."

Scoble blogged Friday about the four-day presidential announcement trip, after Edwards admitted the romance with Hunter. Wrote Scoble, "I had no idea that when former Senator John Edwards invited me to come along on his plane back in December of 2006 that I would have had a front-row seat to a sex scandal."

"I never saw them behave inappropriately in front of me," he added. Scoble was traveling with the campaign as part of a blogger contingent invited to ensure the event received online attention.

Edwards said in a statement that his romance with Hunter ended in 2006. "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," he said.

Meanwhile, Hunter's previous incarnation as Lisa Druck is gaining more attention.

Hunter has had other famous boyfriends, including author Jay McInerney, who has said he based the promiscuous character in his 1988 novel, "Story of My Life," on Hunter. Boosted by the scandal, the novel is out of stock after shooting up to No. 470 on Amazon.com's best-seller list - prompting its publisher to print another 2,500 copies.

Also getting renewed attention is a November 1992 Sports Illustrated article about a series of killings of thoroughbred horses. The brutal murders were committed for insurance purposes by a hit man who learned his trade from Hunter's late father, James Druck.

Druck, a Florida lawyer, in 1982 taught Tommy "The Sandman" Burns how to rig wires to electrocute Druck's prize show jumper, Henry the Hawk, for a $150,000 insurance payout, the magazine reported.

Doug Ross has more.