Rielle Hunter: Pregnant with John Edwards' Love Child?

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is lagging behind both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the polls. A potential love child scandal, as claimed by the National Enquirer after a "blockbuster investigation," certainly can't help.

The Enquirer has learned that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to John Edwards in a cheating scandal earlier this year, is more than six months pregnant â€" and she's told a close confidant that Edwards is the father of her baby!

Man. Who would've guessed that John Edwards and Jamie Lynn Spears' baby daddy, Casey Aldridge, had so much in common!? The National Enquirer even (falsely) reported a story involving a pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears back in July!

This political bombshell comes just weeks after Edwards emphatically denied having an affair with Rielle Hunter, who once worked on his campaign and told a friend she was romantically involved with the married ex-senator.

Well, the Enquirer says it is now confirming that Rielle is expecting, and that she's gone into hiding with the help of a former aide to John Edwards.

Rumors of an affair between Rielle Hunter and presidential hopeful John Edwards have persisted for months - and now there's an unexpected pregnancy twist.

The visibly pregnant blonde relocated from New York to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she's living in an upscale gated community near political operative Andrew Young, who's been extremely close to John Edwards for years.

And, in a bizarre twist, Andrew Young â€" a 41-year-old married man with young children himself â€" now claims HE is the father of Rielle's baby!

Others are skeptical, wondering if Young's paternity claim over Rielle Hunter's alleged offspring is a cover-up to protect John Edwards.

In a statement issued through her attorney, Hunter said:

"The fact that I am expecting a child is my personal and private business. This has no relationship to nor does it involve John Edwards in any way. Andrew Young is the father of my unborn child."

But a source extremely close to the 43-year-old divorcée says Rielle Hunter has told a marketly different story privately:

"Rielle told me she had a secret affair with John Edwards. When she found out that she was pregnant, she said he was the father."

Rielle loves Edwards and will do anything to protect him, the source says.

The Enquirer initially withheld Rielle Hunter's name in an October 22 report that claimed a campaign insider had an affair with Edwards 18 months earlier, and talked about the scandalous relationship in phone calls and e-mails.

In the months since the story was published, some political experts correctly guessed that the other woman is Rielle Hunter, a self-described filmmaker whose company was hired by a pro-Edwards group called One America Committee and paid $114,000 to produce videos for Edwards' campaign.

Rielle Hunter worked with John Edwards on those videos.

Continue reading the Enquirer's account of Edwards and Rielle ...