This is just bizarre. At the criminal trial of John Edwards today in Greensboro, North Carolina, his former speech writer Wendy Button testified that the politician ran his January 2010 admission of extramarital guilt through some surprising Tinseltown channels.

Per a report by WRAL-TV5, Button says the text of her boss’s eventual admission of fathering a child with Rielle Hunter was circulated as follows:

As the draft statement went through more than a dozen revisions, Button testified, Edwards sent copies to actor Sean Penn and actress Madeleine Stowe and to writer-director Paul Haggis… No reason was mentioned for circulating the draft.

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At the NATPE conference in Miami Beach, FishbowlLA spoke with Barry Levine, the executive editor of the National Enquirer, the gossip rag that always gets flak, even when it breaks major scoops, such as the John Edwards lovechild scandal, or Tiger Woods‘ mistresses.

The Enquirer is here to pitch a TV show concept, not a TMZ-like program, but a behind-the-scenes look at how the sausage gets made at the paper. Yes, that includes the nasty bits, like checkbook journalism, and sneaking into hotel rooms to grab some DNA samples.

“If it wasn’t for us there wouldn’t be TMZ, there wouldn’t be Entertainment Tonight, and I think after the last couple of years, the new credibility we have established after John Edwards, and the Tiger Woods scandal after that, we have had so much media interest and interest from readers and the question is always ‘how does the Enquirer get those stories?’”

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Hustler chieftain Larry Flynt was in San Francisco today publicizing his book One Nation Under Sex, a history of U.S. presidential sex scandals and their resulting impact on the political decision making process. So naturally, Joe Garofoli, a reporter for the Chronicle, asked him what he thought about today’s stunning Schwarzenegger revelations.

Flynt thinks Arnold’s household transgressions are worse than those of Bill Clinton but not quite as bad as the ones that tarnished John Edwards. He also feels that unlike Clinton, no one is going to feel sorry for Schwarzenegger:

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David Perel was Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer when the tabloid broke the story of presidential candidate John Edwards‘ extramarital affair. Today on The Huffington Post, Perel discusses what went in to breaking that story. Notably, he begins, “It took two years, thousands of man hours and a cross-country chase to catch John Edwards cheating.” In other words, Enquirer reporters had the time, financial backing, and editorial support often required to break big news. A reminder of what gets lost with all that cost-cutting.

Perel notes that two primary tools used by the tabloid in uncovering the story were technology and psychology. The Enquirer had satellite photos and a professional psychological profiler at their disposal. How many journos out there have to buy their own office supplies?

The full story can be read on the HuffPo website. Perel is currently Managing Editor of celebrity gossip site RadarOnline.com.

According to the latest issue of the National Enquirer, former presidential candidate John Edwards has asked Rielle Hunter to marry him. The Enquirer report is not yet online, and most confused media outlets are linking to a similar Enquirer story from February of 2010.

While the tablod gained some credibility by breaking the story of both the extramarital affair between Edwards and Hunter, and their resulting lovechild, the report of a proposal is understandably being greeting with skepticism by the mainstream media. True or not, it’s rather distasteful, given that Edward’s estranged wife Elizabeth died of cancer just last month.

The Hollywood Gossip has posted a shot of the National Enquirer‘s newest cover:

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of politician and former presidential hopeful John Edwards, died today from breast cancer at the age of 61. Arianna Huffington appears on tonight’s Parker Spitzer to discuss the life and death of Elizabeth, a champion of healthcare reform and the fight against poverty.

The full interview with Huffington can be viewed on CNN’s Parker Spitzer at 5 p.m.

Yet another prominent old media icon is heading online. Feared New York Post gossip columnist Richard Johnson, who has edited the Post’s “Page Six”for the past 25 years, is leaving the Post and heading to Los Angeles. Johnson is moving west to head up a new digital venture for News Corp., the Post’s parent company run by Rupert Murdoch.

As Politico’s Ben Smith notes: “Johnson’s departure from the tabloid is a huge blow to the Post, and suggests that the company is willing to poach from its vibrant, money-losing tabloid for the new digital site.”

In the same piece, Smith also reminds us Johnson “has the dubious distinction of having essentially created Paris Hilton.”

Hooray! Just imagine the fame-hungry socialites he can dig up in LA! Pseudo-celebrity sex tapes here we come! Welcome Mr. Johnson…er…Richard Johnson that is.

We usually crack jokes about how we know someone who once went to school briefly with someone who used to work for someone who won a Pulitzer in whatever year. This year, it’s not funny. This year LAT’s Ralph Vartabedian and Ken Bensinger were finalists for breaking the Toyota story so early that Toyota released the hounds on their reputations as Camrys were still killing people.

It resulted in one of the largest recalls in automotive history and saved an untold number of lives.

Yeah, the Enquirer didn’t win a prize for figuring out John Edwards couldn’t control himself – but the major metro newspaper reporters who figured out Priuses couldn’t either?! Nothing?! Really?!

List of the winners is here.

Previously on FBLA: LAT’s Gum Shoe Journalism and the Toyota Recall

The graphic above comes to us from Project for Excellence in Journalism. Apparently, the whole John Edwards knocking boots with some broad while his wife was under going chemo is a bigger draw than say – everything else combined. It got 81% of all cable news coverage.

Think how much play it would have gotten had Edwards actually been an incumbent or running for office. Then it would have really got some attention.

The L.A. Times, be it ever so humble, has decided to dictate what constitutes news in them thar parts. The Left Coast Grey Lady, uninterested in what the National Enquirer might break, announced that no one — not even bloggers, for gosh sakes — will be allowed to write anything about John Edwards and his philandering.

The news was unleashed late last week and Jim Romenesko, bless his muckraking heart, was able to locate the memo from Times editor Tony Pierce. The Times might take some lessons from the Enquirer, at least on breaking stories.

Click continued to see the email…

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