The Edwards Doomsday Plan

John Edwards was never going to be president. He was too much of a phony populist to go very far, but even if he had, his staff members were apparently cooking up a plan to keep him from winning:

Members of former Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign reportedly devised a "doomsday" strategy over his affair with Rielle Hunter in which they would destroy his bid for office.

Several unnamed former campaign officials said they had prepared a plan in which they would sabotage Edwards' campaign if it appeared he would secure the Democratic nomination, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reported on Sunday.

"They were Democrats first, and if it looked like Edwards was going to become the nominee, they were going to bring down the campaign -- they were going to blow it up," Stephanopoulos said.

The strategy was apparently put together in secret in December 2007 after months of denying rumors that Edwards was having an affair with a woman and had also fathered a child with her.

Why go on with the charade? Why not quit the campaign, announce what they know, and put an end to it altogether?

Seems kind of gutless to me.