John Edwards is scheduled to go on trial at the end of this month on campaign finance charges. According to the Washington Post, the federal judge met with federal prosecutors and his attorney on Friday to discuss whether his trial should be delayed, at Edwards’ request. The former Presidential candidate and North Carolina Senator has claimed to the judge that he is in poor health, although he is unwilling to explain publicly what his health issues are.

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Earlier, Edwards sought and received a trial delay because he argued that he needed more time to prepare his defense and because he needed to attend his daughter’s wedding. At a pretrial hearing last month, Edwards appeared to all observers to be in good health. Another hearing is scheduled for this week. It is hoped that Edwards is in good enough health to attend that event.

The trial, for those of us who recall, is because Edwards, during his 2008 Presidential campaign, allegedly funneled nearly a million dollars that he received from wealthy donors to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, who was pregnant with his child at the time. His wife Elizabeth was at his side during virtually all campaign events to demonstrate his devotion to his family. Elizabeth, who was being treated for cancer, has since passed away.

Hunter met Edwards at a bar in 2006 and convinced him of her value to him. He thereafter hired her to film his Presidential campaign which began shortly thereafter. During the campaign, the National Enquirer published a series of articles detailing the affair and claiming that she was pregnant with his love child. This was heartily denied by the candidate and one of his close aides claimed responsibility for the pregnancy. After Edwards dropped out of the 2008 campaign, he accepted responsibility for her daughter, Quinn and admitted that their affair had extended for a long period of time. Hunter later was interviewed by GQ, in which a number of famous photos of her were published.

Edwards is regarded by most observers as the sleaziest politician in an era where the two words sometimes are regarded as synonymous with each other. He not only betrayed his wife, he was willing to place his political party and the nation in a position where we would have gotten to relive the late 1990’s political/sexual scandals in an effort to further his own aggrandizement.