Dems in Damage Control Mode

John Edwards' confession of extramarital hanky-panky has the Dems scrambling for damage control:

John Edwards' admission that he had an extramarital affair puts pressure on Sen. Barack Obama to quickly distance himself from the former North Carolina senator and prominent Democrats are calling on him to announce immediately that Edwards will not have any role at the Democratic National Convention.

Fmr. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., admitted an extramarital affair with documentary filmmaker Rielle Hunter in 2006, just prior to his second presidential run in 2008. The Democrat served as John Kerry's running mate in 2004.

Obama was traveling to Hawaii for a weeklong vacation at the time the story broke, but upon landing in Honolulu told reporters Edwards has indicated that he won't be speaking at the convention.

"The Edwards family indicated that they probably wouldn't be attending the convention," Obama said, "I understand that," he said, "look this is a difficult and painful time for them and I think they need to work through that process of healing."

Obama praised Edwards, saying, "John Edwards was a great champion of working people through the course of this campaign," he said, "many of his themes are ones that Democrats as a whole share, those will be amplified in the convention, and I wish them all well."

In other words, see ya, don't wanna be ya.

The timing of this announcement creates some problems for Obama becomes it comes in a bit of a political vacuum. Today's story was supposed to be about Hillary Clinton out on the campaign trail by herself for the first time stumping for the Obamessiah, but that story got squashed. With Obama in Hawaii and out of the spotlight, this story will dominate. Maybe not for long, but long enough.