Elizabeth Edwards Dies at 61

On Tuesday, Elizabeth Edwards, who fought a very public battle with her husband John Edwards over his private life even as she fought cancer, died of the disease in North Carolina. The former presidential candidate and his wife separated after the revelation of his affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter and remained estranged until her death.

The Washington Post:

She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007. O, the Oprah magazine, called her “the most refreshing political spouse since Eleanor Roosevelt.” A Washington Post profile of Mrs. Edwards was headlined, “A Shoo-In For ‘Regular Person.’ ” The headline on a Frank Rich column in the New York Times was “Elizabeth Edwards for President.”

Unlike a traditional political spouse, however, she refused to appear with her husband when in August 2008 he publicly admitted to having repeatedly lied about having an affair with campaign aide Rielle Hunter. After her husband admitted fathering a child with Hunter, the Edwardses separated.

She had learned of the affair in early 2006 but stayed silent about it in public and campaigned for him, a tactic that annoyed some of her supporters, who noted that the Edwardses ran as a couple, telling the story of their romance and renewing their wedding vows on their 30th anniversary in 2007.

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