Edwards is Esquire's latest cover boy

He didn't drape himself in a silk sheet like Angelina Jolie, but Tar Heel presidential hopeful John Edwards is the next cover celebrity for Esquire magazine.

Edwards stands on the August cover, looking up beside a provocative headline: "Can a white man still be elected president? If so, John Edwards will have to battle image, cancer & the forces of history."

The magazine route is not a new one for Edwards. This month he appeared on the cover of Men's Vogue sitting on the back of a pickup truck with his dog. His 2004 campaign also received publicity in a pair of positive articles in GQ and Vanity Fair that asked whether Edwards was the next Bill Clinton or John Kennedy, respectively.

Edwards' camp wasn't doing any boasting Thursday night. "Spreading John Edwards' message for change is always positive," Edwards spokeswoman Colleen Murray wrote in an e-mail message.

Edwards could use the publicity. He lags behind front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in fundraising and in most polls.

Edwards is the first presidential candidate to pose for Esquire's cover in 20 years, but he's not the only 2008 hopeful to do so. Republican Rudy Giuliani was on the cover in May 2003.