The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards is dishing out 15K a month ^[1] to his lover/former lover (who knows?) Rielle Hunter as “hush money.”

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?  Well, it’s not.  Not in today’s California anyway. There’s a child involved (Frances Quinn Hunter, according to the Enquirer) and a one-time high-priced, high-income trial lawyer like Edwards with high net worth (28,000 square foot home!) would likely end up paying a lot more if he were dealing with the family courts and not “under the table,” as it were. Other states might be equally tough on this form of “dead beat dad.”

Rielle must surely know this. Could this be the explanation for the furtive meeting at the Beverly Hilton? Could it have been a negotiation and not a tryst? I certainly don’t know but it’s a possibility.  Maybe the Enquirer will tell us.  As Mickey Kaus ^[2] indicates, the LAT is unlikely to be the source of any information. They don’t deal in the gutter. [Like www.rogerlsimon.com.-ed.  Yes, like that.]

MORE: Kaus talks the talk on Edwards and “the undernews” here ^[3].