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A True Political Partner
Yet attention is nothing new to Edwards. She gained some prominence in the 2004 campaign, much more when breast cancer was diagnosed as the campaign ended. Her book, "Saving Graces," helped her to reach an even larger audience. And since March, she has been fighting a new -- and widely publicized -- battle with cancer.
"She has her own book, and she has her own disease," said Jennifer Palmieri, who was an adviser during the first campaign and is a close friend. "It's a very hard place to live."
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But long before her diagnosis, Edwards knew tragedy in her life. On April 4, 1996, the Edwards's oldest child, Wade, was killed in an automobile accident at 16. Her book recounts in extraordinarily poignant detail her attempts to cope with the loss.
"What I expected of myself was wholly unrealistic," she said recently. "I expected I was going to be able to be stoical, I was going to be able to carry on. I didn't realize it was going to be like a Mack truck hitting me and us all the time when we were unsuspecting."
For many months, she visited Wade's grave site every day. She took him his SAT score when it arrived after his death. She read him books from his classmates' school reading list.
Today, as driven as she is by her desire to help elect her husband president, Edwards also has interests beyond the campaign. Friends say she is, by nature, a homebody. She is an active mother of three -- Emma Claire, 9; Jack, 7; and Cate, 25 -- and the daughter of aging parents who recently moved to an assisted-care facility in North Carolina.
She is a shopper. She likes to run by Target on Tuesdays, when the newest DVDs are released. On the campaign trail, she makes time for shopping detours, as she did last month in Iowa, unexpectedly getting out of the van and leaving her husband to go on alone to speak to a labor group.
"She jumped out in the middle of an intersection," John Edwards explained in mock horror shortly after it happened.
"At the corner," she replied.
"Sweetie, but there were no crosswalks or anything," he said. "There were cars everywhere."
"I just waited until there were no cars, and I walked with the light," she said firmly.
All for a pair of socks for Father's Day.
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