Report: Edwards admits to extramarital affair

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Former Sen. John Edwards admits extramarital affair to ABC News

(CNN) -- Former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards admitted to an extramarital affair in an interview with ABC News, the network reported Friday. He denied being the father of the woman's child, as had been alleged in tabloid reports.

Former Sen. John Edwards has been listed as a possible 2008 vice presidential candidate.

Speaking to the network for a story to be aired Friday night, Edwards acknowledged the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, which began after she was hired to make documentary videos for his campaign, ABC said.

He said he has not taken a paternity test, but that the timing of the affair rules out the possibility that he could be her baby girl's father. A former campaign aide has publicly said he fathered the child.

When the tabloid the National Enquirer first reported the affair last October, Edwards flatly denied it, calling the claims "false" and "ridiculous."

Contacted through a former aide by CNN Thursday, Edwards had refused to comment on the reports. He also dodged reporters at a recent event in Washington. In a July 24 appearance in New Orleans, Louisiana, he would not answer a reporter's question about whether he had provided financial support either to the woman or to former Edwards campaign staffer Andrew Young, the man who says he's the child's father.

"I have no idea what you're asking about," Edwards said. "I have responded to, consistently, to these tabloid allegations by saying I don't respond to these lies."

Edwards, 55, of North Carolina, told ABC that his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members have known about the affair since 2006.

The vice presidential candidate during Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid, Edwards had been mentioned as a potential running mate for Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee this year, and as a possible attorney general or other high-ranking appointee if Obama wins the November election.

But Don Fowler, a former Democratic Party chairman, told CNN earlier this week that Edwards might be forfeiting a major role at the party's upcoming convention in Denver -- or in a future Democratic administration -- unless he cleared the air.

"I think the longer these allegations go unanswered and unresponded to, the more difficult it is for the people producing the convention to give him a prominent spot," Fowler said.

Fowler, from South Carolina, served as Democratic chairman from 1995 to 1997 and will be a party superdelegate at the Denver convention in late August. He said he had no input into whether Edwards addresses the convention, "But I would expect that he would not speak or have any role at the convention unless this is cleared up."

The former North Carolina senator announced in January that he was dropping out of the 2008 Democratic presidential race.

"It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," he said in New Orleans.

With his wife and children at his side, Edwards said he couldn't predict "who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," but he said it would be a Democrat.

Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama May 14 during a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He trailed Sen. Hillary Clinton and Obama in the early contests. He came in third in key races in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Edwards had campaigned on the message that he was standing up for the little guy, the people who are not traditionally given a voice in Washington, and that he would do more to fight special interests.

After dropping out of the race, Edwards asked Clinton and Obama to make poverty a central issue in the general election and a future Democratic administration, something both agreed to do.

Edwards is a South Carolina native with an undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and law degree from the University of North Carolina.

Before entering politics, winning a Senate seat from North Carolina in 1998, Edwards was a lawyer representing families "being victimized by powerful interests" and gaining "a national reputation as a forceful and tireless champion for regular, hard-working people," according to his campaign Web site.