John, Rielle

So much for the Los Angeles Times' ban on blogging about the John Edwards scandal. An item in the paper's Top of the Ticket blog directly addresses yesterday's Charlotte Observer story in which several Democratic supporters of Edwards were quoted saying that the former North Carolina senator had to confront rumors about his alleged affair if he hoped to have a speaking role at the upcoming DNC.

Back on July 23, the day after the National Enquirer reported that it had busted Edwards visiting his alleged mistress Rielle Hunter at the Beverly Hilton, an Opinion L.A. blogger aggregated reaction to the story from around the Web. Seemingly, that move was a no-no: the next day, Slate's Mickey Kaus posted an e-mail from the Times' blog editor Tony Pierce barring bloggers from mentioning the story due to the fact that the Enquirer was the only source. (Fox News confirmed the showdown the next day.)

Why the change of heart? From the Times National Editor Scott Kraft: "While we have stayed away from that Enquirer report, because we couldn't confirm it, this [the Charlotte Observer's report] strikes us as a legitimate story—that on-the-record Dems, including a former Edwards campaign manager, are criticizing Edwards' decision to stay mum on the topic and saying it might affect his credibility enough that he wouldn't get a speaking slot at the convention."

(The Top of the Ticket blogger who wrote the story, Don Frederick, offers another rationale, per the following quote from former newspaper man Alan Mutter: "With everyone from Drudge to Leno to Wonkette riffing on a tale that began trickling out at Christmas, the MSM look foolishly out of touch by continuing to remain silent about the allegation that Edwards fathered the girl recently born to a former campaign aide."

Oh, by the way: the scandal has (finally—permanently?) made its way into Edwards' Wikipedia page, too.