It's not exactly something to be proud of, but North Carolina's former Sen. John Edwards got more attention on last night's "Saturday Night Live," all because of ... well, you know.

Edwards, who has also been a candidate for president and a vice presidential nominee, had his legacy painfully summed up in a "Larry King Live" skit that would have made Oscar Mayer proud. Read below for more on the sketch, and my apologies in advance to delicatessen owners everywhere.

The case at the center of last night's episode of "The Good Wife," had parallels to one of our area's most infamous recent incidents.

Yep, the Duke lacrosse case.

Even the characters on the show acknowledged as much, in explaining their trepidation in accepting the civil suit.

It was a clever way of the writer's noting that they were using the real case as a jumping off point.

I was excited about seeing "The Good Wife" (tonight, 10 p.m.) because it's got Chris Noth, Juliana Margulies, and because living in the age of the wayward political husband (with recent revelations, our own John Edwards now owns the crown of worse husband on the face of the
Earth), the wife at the podium seems great fodder for a dramatic approach.

After all, wasn't that Elizabeth Edwards interview with Oprah both heartbreaking and illuminating?

And what was more dramatic than watching Jenny Sanford fight for and then (wisely) abandon her marriage while her spirit was still in tact?

The headline over staff writer Anne Blythe's story in today's paper, on 1B, read: "Edwards stays in public eye, guards her privacy."

Today on Fridays Live with Oprah, Oprah and her guests -- Ali Wentworth (wife of George Stephanopoulos), Gayle King, and Mark Consuelos -- discussed Thursday's Elizabeth Edwards interview.

Ali jumped in right away with this sage advice: "Keep it in your pants or don't go into politics."

If you missed Oprah's interview with Elizabeth Edwards today, we've recapped it here for you.

Oprah arrives at the Edwards home in Chapel Hill in an SUV and is greeted outside by the entire family, minus Cate: John, Elizabeth, Emma Claire, and Jack. Big hugs all around.

Oprah notes that Elizabeth looks good, though she has terminal cancer. They go into the house and John takes the kids away. "Can we talk to you later on?" Oprah asks. "We'll see," John replies.

"It's a very good way to just poke your head out a little bit, see what happens, see what public reaction is like. Humility and honesty go a long way to repairing an image," said Jonathan Bernstein, a California-based crisis management consultant, on John Edwards' giving speeches again three months after confessing to an affair on national television

Here's one public reaction: Blech. And most people are pretty sure we're still waiting for the honesty. Was three months long enough?

The poverty center at the UNC School of Law that opened in 2005 under the direction of former presidential candidate John Edwards now has a new leader.

It is Gene Nichol, the former law school dean who left Chapel Hill in 2005 for the presidency of the College of William & Mary. Nichol had a rocky tenure there, resigned abruptly earlier this year and returned to teach at UNC.  

UNC's law school created the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity specifically for Edwards, who subsequently used poverty as a key issue in his failed bid for the presidency.

He wasn't involved with the UNC center for too long, stepping down from the post in 2006.

Professor Marion Crain took over as the center's director but left Chapel Hill earlier this year for a position on the law faculty at Washington University in St. Louis.

Of Nichol, current law school dean Jack Boger said:

"He is a remarkable scholar and an energetic leader who cares deeply about issues of fairness and equality. I expect his leadership to fortify the center's efforts."

Jim Blackburn, the prosecutor who won the conviction of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald in the case that inspired the book "Fatal Vision," says some of the news coverage of the John Edwards case reminded him of his own fall from grace. After entering private practice, Blackburn admitted in 1993 that he had stolen $230,000 from his law firm to cover lies he made to clients. Blackburn lost his law license and went to prison. In time, he paid the money back. 

One of Blackburn's lawyers was his friend Wade Smith. Blackburn and Smith were on opposite sides in the MacDonald case. Upon receiving Smith's advice, Blackburn confessed fully. Blackburn said Smith told him: "Take their best shot and don't whine. Then you get your life back." Blackburn wrote a book about his experiences, "Flame-out."

Blackburn said it was best that his secrets were revealed. "If it hadn't blown apart, I'd still be trying to control it," he told me last week. "Blowing apart was the best thing that happened."

While noting some similarities in news coverage of his fall and Edwards', Blackburn declined to give Edwards advice. Read more of Blackburn's comments here.  

Reader comments on the N&O's coverage of L'Affaire Edwards continue to pour in. Predictably, much of it takes The N&O to task for "missing the story." But there is a sizeable contingent that says, "Move on." A sampling:

"John Edwards would have been named attorney general of the United States by Obama if he gets elected. The tabloid press ultimately had more legitimacy than you folks at McClatchy. You keep feeding us stuff from the Associated Press and New York Times that is not honest and is somewhat to left of Genghis Khan. If you folks at McClatchy want to increase circulation and continue to interest readers, you’re going to have to get on a more conservative path in line with people of North Carolina and not miss stories like this. You all in Charlotte and Raleigh should have found this out and followed up on it, and you all blew it." Dr. Bill Goodwin, Laurinburg.

"Give us a break on further Edwards updates. He cannot even bring himself to be wholly honest about it. So we all know, little bits and pieces are going to leak out in the days and weeks ahead. Who cares?" Joe Dew, Raleigh.