From The Charlotte Observer, July 1

Has there been a bigger waste of potential in North Carolina political history than John Edwards?

Here was a guy who had unquestioned intelligence, an unparalleled work ethic and a progressive view of public policy. He had once-in-a-generation political talents, a compelling history and considerable wealth he was willing to invest in his own campaign.

As it turns out, he also had unlimited ambition, an enormous ego, a broken moral compass and a drive fueled more by a desire to burnish his self-image than anything else.

He could have been one of North Carolina’s — perhaps even one of the nation’s — greatest senators. Instead, he is a disgrace.

His affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter is well-known by now.

That he would cheat on his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth, lie about it repeatedly and then in his confession throw out red herrings to deflect blame told us all we needed to know about his character.

But new developments suggest that observers’ worst suspicions from the time he confessed might be true.

If so, they take a reputation that had already been deservedly trampled and seal its permanent dishonor.

Andrew Young, once a close aide to the Democrat Edwards, has struck a book deal in which he says that Edwards begged him to falsely claim paternity of Hunter’s child. He says Edwards promised to “take care of you for life” if he did so. “You know I’d walk off a cliff for you, and I know you’d walk off a cliff for me,” Young says Edwards told him. Young also says Edwards made a sex tape with Hunter that Young later discovered.

Young is not the most credible source of information, and he will certainly be written a large check for such a book.

But his allegations about Edwards pleading with him to claim fatherhood is what many of us have suspected from the time Edwards denied paternity.

Given what we know about Edwards’ character, it would hardly be surprising.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Edwards misused campaign money in connection with the affair or its coverup.

Regardless of whether they can amass enough evidence to bring charges, Edwards is guilty of another crime: squandering immense talent at the expense of himself, his family, his state and his nation.