Hopefully, the $65,000 John Edwards is pocketing to deliver a phony speech on "The American Dream" at Hofstra University next week will last him: the philandering former senator has been canned as the keynote speaker at the 2008 Healthcare Facilities Summit, and has backed out (voluntarily, organizers claim) of a joint appearance he was to make with wife Elizabeth on September 23rd at Salem State.

Odds that he actually shows up at Hofstra are currently hovering at 3:1.