Edwards cancels engagements

Ex-senator doesn't want scandal to hurt Obama's chances

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has decided to stay out of public view until after the election, saying he doesn't want the controversy surrounding his extramarital affair to harm the candidacy of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Edwards canceled an appearance at Hofstra University in Long Island New York set for Monday. Then he canceled all other public engagements until after the November elections.

"I have decided to avoid any public engagements until after the election in November," Edwards said in a statement.

"Nothing is more important than electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden," the statement said. "I don't want my appearance at these events to be a distraction from the important issues of the election, or from the important purpose of these meetings."

Edwards' New York speech was to have been his first since he went on ABC's Nightline last month to acknowledge an affair with Rielle Hunter, a onetime campaign videographer. The event had the potential to turn into a media feeding frenzy with such tabloid TV news outlets as "Inside Edition" and "Extra" -- as well as CSPAN, the staid public affairs program -- having made plans to cover his speech.

Don Walker, president of the Harry Walker Agency in New York, said Edwards had a number of speaking engagements scheduled during the coming months. But he said he would let each organization announce Edwards' cancellation.

Edwards' friends preferred not to comment on the former senator's decision. Both John and his wife Elizabeth Edwards skipped the Democratic convention last week in Denver. Originally both were scheduled to speak at Hofstra, which is hosting one of the presidential debates this fall.

The cancellation comes two days after the failed Democratic presidential candidate canceled a joint appearance with his wife, Elizabeth, scheduled for Sept. 23 at Salem State College in Salem, Mass.

Among the canceled engagements was a speech scheduled for Oct. 14 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Illini Union Board, the student group, was to have paid Edwards a $65,000 speaking fee, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Steven Greene, a political science professor at N.C. State University, said it's natural for Edwards to rethink his speaking commitments for a while.

"I think he wants to stay out of the news," Greene said. "There is still a lot of anger and frustration from his base, from Democrats. To some degree, people need time to get over that. If he lays lows for one or two years it will be more effective. 'Forgive and forget' is a lot easier when time has passed."

Many Democrats, Greene said, are still angry that he was willing to run for president with a secret that could have ripped apart the Democratic campaign for the White House if Edwards had won the nomination.

But Greene said other notable public officials have been torpedoed by scandal only to resurrect their careers as statesmen, citing former Sen. Gary Hart, former President Bill Clinton and former President Richard Nixon.