Edwards to claim he's father of Anna Nicole Smith baby

Trailing presidential candidate John Edwards is expected to announce this week that he is the biological father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, Dannielyne, although he said had he known about the infant, he would have told Anna to at least spell her name correctly instead of Southern White Trash style.

The announcement is viewed as another effort to boost his sagging campaign and generate cash. His campaign has risen sharply in the popularity polls after making two of his major foreign policy statements. The first, announcing he is more pro-Israel than most Israelis, helped inject his campaign warchest with $14 million in the first quarter. The decision to force his wife to disclose publicly her intimate private tragedies, that her cancer has returned, caused a 9-point bump in Edwards' popularity in the polls. Among single women voters.

Edwards posed with about 30 women, all directly or indirectly related to him at a health clinic where he offered to pay to have them all receive free health clinic checkups.



"I think it is important that all women identify potentially life-threatening illnesses early, especially any women who might be related to me. If we can identify these problems early, before the March primaries, we can address them quickly and successfully," Edwards said.

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