It sure does seem that way, as the connection between Edwards, campaign finance chair Fred Baron, and the lawyers for Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young become public.

Remember last year, when Hunter and Young independently claimed that Young was the father of Hunter's child after Edwards claimed there was no affair? Well, the mainstream media (in their haste to prop up the Democrat contender) missed something that competent professional journalists should have caught.

Seemingly issued independently of Mr. Edwards, the statements appeared to deflate the anonymously sourced reports of an Edwards tryst. But what went unnoticed was that the two lawyers shared an important connection to Mr. Edwards that suggests they were part of an orchestrated effort to protect him, one that is continuing even after he admitted last week that he had an affair with Ms. Hunter but denied that he fathered her child.

The lawyers are linked through Fred Baron, a wealthy Dallas lawyer and former finance chairman for the Edwards campaign who was a key player in the campaign’s response to the scandal. Mr. Gordon has worked with Mr. Baron on class-action personal injury cases, and Ms. Marple helped defend a lawsuit brought against both men and their law firms by an asbestos manufacturer.

This is information that should have been quite easy to find -- if journalists bothered to look. But rather than actually check out the story, the press took it all at face value, and therefore let the story stand precisely as the Edwards spin machine wanted it to. It saved Edwards' candidacy and image for some months, and allowed him to be near the top of the VP/Cabinet list for eventual nominee Barack Obama (until he got caught with his hand in the nookie jar last month).

Now why does this matter?

Two reasons.

1. The affair and cover-up occurred during Edwards' candidacy for the Democrat nomination.
   
2. The cover-up and media complicity likely impacted the result of the entire Democrat nominating process in favor of Barack Obama.
   
3. It appears that there may be misuse of campaign funds or foundation funds to aid in the cover-up.

While some corrupt Democrats may want to argue that this affair is not the business of the public, I think the circumstances surrounding the case make it clear that this is a matter of serious public concern.

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