Former presidential candidate John Edwards, who won nationwide praise and sympathy as he campaigned side by side with his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, admitted Aug. 8 he had an affair as he prepared to launch his campaign.

Acknowledging a sex scandal he had dismissed as "tabloid trash" in July, Edwards said he had told his wife and family long ago, but "I had hoped that it would never become public."

He denied fathering a daughter, born to the woman with whom he had the affair, and offered to be tested to prove it. A former Edwards campaign staff member professes to be the father.