Will John Edwards be confirmed as the father of Rielle Hunter's baby before the November election?

Edwards's Ex-Lover Rejects Idea Of DNA Test
Hunter Requests Privacy For Herself, Her Child

Rielle Hunter, the former presidential campaign aide who had an affair with John Edwards, said yesterday that she will not pursue DNA testing to establish the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, despite the former senator's offer to participate in such a test.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Hunter said through her attorney that she will not be party to such a test "now or in the future." The attorney, Robert Gordon, called Hunter a "private" person who is "not running for public office" and would not comment further.
"She wishes to maintain her privacy and her daughter's privacy," he said in the statement. "Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter's privacy now or in the future." If Hunter sticks to that position, it will ease the pressure on Edwards, who on Friday dropped his earlier denials and admitted to having an affair with Hunter in 2006 but denied being the father of the child. Edwards, a Democrat who represented North Carolina, maintained in a statement that the affair ended too soon for him to have fathered her baby, Frances Quinn Hunter, who was born Feb. 27. Hunter and a former Edwards fundraiser, Andrew Young, have maintained that Young is the father.

"I would welcome participating in a paternity test," Edwards told ABC's Bob Woodruff on Friday. "Be happy to participate in one. I know that it's not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events. . . . Happy to take a paternity test and would love to see it happen." ABC News reported on its Web site yesterday that Hunter's younger sister Melissa said that Edwards should immediately follow through on his pledge to take a paternity test. "I would challenge him to do so," the sister said.