Spin Cycle

John Edwards could have put it this way: "I did not have kids with that woman!"

Had he done this bit of Bill Clinton revision, Edwards would have given Friday's show of admission and refutation a bit of historical heft.

Instead, we have your standard-issue sex scandal besieging another politician. This leads some of us to wonder when the National Enquirer will fall from its lofty pedestal as the political newspaper of record.

Until that moment, spinmeisters could at least lighten up the dialogue for their clients.

Imagine if a damage-control consultant had Sen. Larry Craig go out there after his cringe-inducing arrest, wag his finger Bubba-style, and say with accuracy: "I did not try to have sex with any women."

Jim McGreevey could have done the same.

Eliot Spitzer, for whom it was a business doing pleasure, might have crafted his own non-denial denial with something like: "I refrained from ordering the disclosure of any sensitive security data ....

Dan Janison

Here's the admission/denial issued today by former presidential candidate John Edwards, with the question for posters being whether it matters and why.

"Chapel Hill, North Carolina

"In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

"I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

"It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up -- feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

"I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say."

Two days ago, the Clinton campaign reacted to a new poll showing Hillary slipping behind rival Barack Obama by criticizing it as flawed and embracing another survey that showed her with a slight lead.

Now, an updated version of the survey the Clinton campaign preferred - - done by Zogby International - - also shows her trailing the senator from Illinois.

The Reuters/C-Span/Zogby Iowa daily tracking poll shows Obama with a seven point lead over Clinton, who it indicates has slipped to third place in Iowa behind former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. Obama was the choice of 31 percent of respondents, the first time he's passed 30 percent in the poll. Edwards was at 27 percent and Clinton at 24 percent. No other Democrat polled in the double digits.

Five percent of Democrats remain undecided, according to the poll, which means Clinton could either make up ground or suffer an even greater defeat.

Among Republicans, Mike Huckabee has strengthened to 31 percent in Iowa, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has slumped to 25 percent and Arizona Sen. John McCain has slid to 10 percent. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has barely campaigned here, moved backward to 6 percent.

On Tuesday, Clinton pollster Mark Penn griped that a the poll showing Clinton as slipping - - a survey by the Des Moines Register - - should be discounted because it used a different methodology than it had four years ago. He said the Zogby poll, which as of Dec. 30 showed Clinton with a four - point lead over Obama, was more reliable.

What a difference four days can make.

Update: But see comments, below, where a reader correctly notes that Hillary is up in a new ARG poll.

--Martin Evans

Last week, John Edwards spliced together pieces of the debate into a Hillary-avoids-questions video. Here's a sequel, using footage from a candidate forum earlier this year:

John Edwards, and maybe Democrats generally, seem to think they're scoring points on Giuliani's verbal overreach about his role at the WTC recovery site. More immediately the question is whether the potentially rising Republican Romney makes a move on this.

Dan Janison

The fascination with Elizabeth Edwards is palpable out west, according to this dispatch.

Whatever its merits in the large scheme of things, this story in the Times, and the way it's played, cannot be considered a plus for John Edwards.

The politics of the Congressional Black Cacus, the news media, and John Edwards are in play here.