National Enquirer Hopes to Ride Sen. Edwards to a Pulitzer Prize

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Barry Levine, executive editor of The National Enquirer, told Washington Post Media Critic Howard Kurtz that the supermarket tabloid deserves the coveted Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the sex scandal that derailed the political career of former Democratic presidential candidate and one-term U.S. Senator from North Carolina, John Edwards.

The Enquirer initially reported in 2007 that Sen. Edwards, the photogenic star litigator and John Kerry's vice-presidential running mate in the 2004 presidential election, engaged in an extramarital affair with his campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter. Edwards dismissed the allegations as "tabloid trash" at the time, but fessed up to Nightline in August 2008, that he was romantically involved with Hunter.

Nevertheless, Edwards continued to deny another Enquirer story that said he was the father of Hunter's child, again branding the Enquirer a "supermarket tabloid," and noting that the timing of events precluded him from having sired Hunter's baby. Apparently, Edwards has as much difficulty with math as morality, as he admitted to NBC correspondent Lisa Myers this week that he indeed was the father of Hunter's child. By the way, Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer during the course of her husband's escapades.

Although The Washington Post did report about allegations that Edwards' former campaign chair paid Hunter a considerable sum that allowed her to leave North Carolina and relocate to a multi-million dollar home in Santa  Barbara, Calif., which is the subject of a federal grand jury probe into possible illegal campaign payments, The National Enquirer pretty much had the sex scandal story to itself. It's unclear whether the Enquirer can get its submission to the Pulitzer committee by the February 1 deadline, but as Enquirer readers no-doubt know, the Pulitzer judges are in reality, hostile pod-sucking aliens from the planet Zebulon in human form, so the tabloid's chances of winning are slim anyway.

The Enquirer, which routinely engages in "checkbook journalism" by paying sources for stories, a practice eschewed (though sometimes followed) by the so-called mainstream traditional media, has a successful track record of scoops, including Rev. Jesse Jackson's "love child" story in 2001 and Rush Limbaugh's prescription drug woes story in 2003.

As for Sen. Edwards, his political platform may or may not be correct that economically there are "2 Americas," but there certainly is one special place in Hell for preening, pathological prevaricating, playboy politicians.