Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some - most recently - caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences.  None of these has been easy.  But we have stood with one another through them all.  Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him. 

John made a terrible mistake in 2006.  The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007.  This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well.  Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.  …..continue reading

Elizabeth Edwards attends a house party in Brentwood, NH on October 26, 2007

By Katharine Q. Seelye and Kate Phillips

John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina and presidential candidate, admitted publicly Friday to an extramarital affair, but said he did not father a child out of wedlock.

"In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs," Mr. Edwards said in a statement. "I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public."

ABC News first reported this afternoon that in an interview for broadcast tonight on Nightline, Mr. Edwards told ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff he "repeatedly lied during his presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice film-maker." He said he did have an affair with the woman, Rielle Hunter, but did not father her child, as has been reported by the National Enquirer.

Mr. Edwards said in the ABC interview, however, that he had not taken a paternity test. The ABC report indicates that Mr. Edwards told Mr. Woodruff he knew he couldn't be the father because the affair had ended earlier.   ….continue reading

John and Elizabeth Edwards hosted a Healthcare Forum at the Franco-American Center in Manchester on January 6, 2008.  (Photo by Peter Smith)

By Dan Nakaso and Derrick DePledge

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama touched on themes ranging from the economy to plate lunches as he greeted a crowd of 4,000 enthusiastic, sun-drenched fans with "How's everybody doing today? Howzit."

Obama introduced his wife, Michelle, by calling her, "my partner, my love and the person that knocks sense into me every once in a while."

Obama, wearing khaki pants and a short-sleeved, black polo shirt, spoke for 16 minutes to a crowd of 4,000 people..

Obama said, "I'm actually here on vacation. I'm going to get a plate lunch. I might go to Zippy's. I might go to Rainbow Drive-In. I haven't decided yet. Get some Zip Min. I'm going to go get some shave ice. I'm going to go do body surfing... I'm going to see my tutu, my grandma, and I'm going to watch my girls play on the beach and once in a while I might go into the water. But mostly I'm going to watch them."

Obama touched on themes that ranged from the government of his grandfather's era to the economy, the environment and the war in Iraq.

His grandfather served in World War II, went to college on the G.I. bill, bought a house through a Federal Housing Authority loan and later was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.  ….continue reading

Upon landing in Hawaii for a vacation, Barack and Michelle greet the crowd awaiting their arrival.

By J. Patrick Coolican

In a visit to a state that treated her well earlier this year, Sen. Hillary Clinton allayed fears Friday about her commitment to working for the election of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

She urged her supporters, who filled the Green Valley High School gymnasium in Henderson, to volunteer for Obama and support him in November. The junior senator from New York also attacked the Republican presumptive nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, for not supporting recently stalled equal pay legislation for working women, and for not backing an expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Analysts believe Obama will need to win over Clinton supporters, and especially working class and older women. With her domestic policy attacks on McCain, Clinton did her best to help Obama on that score.    ….continue reading

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers' Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general's office into the bureau's improper collection of telephone records through "emergency" records demands issued to phone providers.    ….continue reading

Senator Hillary Clinton returned to Nevada yesterday to ask her supporters to enthusiastically back Barack Obama.

By Jennifer Feals

EXETER -- After taking action against an issue affecting her family, Exeter resident Leslie Tufts has seen the power of one.

Earlier this year, Tufts sent a letter to the offices of senators, congressmen and the U.S. Congress' Education Committee informing them of financial strains her family, and many others, face because of a loophole in the college financial aid system.

On July 31, the U.S. House passed the final version of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which includes a provision from U.S. Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., expanding the discretion of school financial aid administrators when assessing the financial needs of students.

The legislation will help families like the Tufts who support both a dependent adult and a college-age child.

Leslie and her husband, a local teacher, care for a 28-year-old disabled child and have spent many years saving money to provide him with when she and her husband "are gone."    ….continue reading

By Jennifer Feals

STRATHAM -- Past college students and graduates shared their challenges and concerns over funding with Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, on Thursday, Aug. 7.

The group of approximately 10 students and graduates from schools including the University of New Hampshire and the University of Pennsylvania, met with New Hampshire's former governor at the Great Bay Community College campus in Stratham.

Shaheen, who is expected to face Republican one-term incumbent Sen. John Sununu in the general election in November, told students the state has a senator for whom education is not a priority and she hopes to change that.

Costs for higher education have risen 80 percent in the last 10 years, Shaheen said, while the support and help students receive has not kept up with. In 2006, 71 percent of the state's graduates were burdened with debt, she said, at an average of $24,800 -- the second highest average in the country.   ….continue reading

By Charles Duhigg

Gaping losses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are causing the two mortgage giants to slow their purchases of home loans at a time when the government is counting on them to help prop up the housing market.

The reductions and associated measures that the companies are taking are likely to drive up home mortgage rates, which are near their highest levels in a year.

Concern over the companies' financial health was heightened on Friday when Fannie Mae reported a second-quarter loss of $2.3 billion.   ….continue reading

By Paul Krugman

So the G.O.P. has found its issue for the 2008 election. For the next three months the party plans to keep chanting: "Drill here! Drill now! Drill here! Drill now! Four legs good, two legs bad!" O.K., I added that last part.

And the debate on energy policy has helped me find the words for something I've been thinking about for a while. Republicans, once hailed as the "party of ideas," have become the party of stupid.

Now, I don't mean that G.O.P. politicians are, on average, any dumber than their Democratic counterparts. And I certainly don't mean to question the often frightening smarts of Republican political operatives.    ….continue reading